“You and I first connected on The Mummy Returns,” Dwayne told Brendan. “That was one of the biggest franchises in the world at that time in our industry. Beloved around the world. You were the face of that franchise.”
“And the flowers I wanna give is: I was ready to make my transition into Hollywood. And I was excited. I had this opportunity to be casted in your movie as the Scorpion King. I remember meeting with Stephen Sommers, our director, and met with all the folks at Universal.”
“There was a moment, I feel like, where you could have said, ‘Hey listen, I love this idea of the character called the Scorpion King, but this guy, Dwayne Johnson, he’s never acted before. I know he’s in pro wrestling. I’m not quite too sure.’”
But the Rock recalled people pitching the idea to Brendan, who welcomed him with open arms — changing the course of Dwayne’s life forever!
“It really meant something to me. Not only was it your franchise and you took a shot and a risk with me, who had never acted back then, but also, that kicked off my career. And it went from The Mummy Returns, to then, The Scorpion King, to years later, you and I are sitting here. And as always, but now here, I wanna say thank you, man. Thank you for in a way, in a big way, really changing my life ’cause the trajectory you allowed to happen led me to be here,” Dwayne concluded.
Throughout all this, Brendan made the sweetest expressions. Look at this face!
“You’re too kind, Dwayne. You were always the right guy for the job,” he earnestly replied.
As someone who grew up on the Mummy movies and played those DVDs nonstop, I’m feeling emotional over this full-circle moment. How kind of Brendan to give the Rock a chance back in the day! How wonderful for Dwayne to take this opportunity to thank him now! I love everything about this.
And I’m not the only one. Folks in the comments gushed over this beautiful interaction:
One person wrote, “This clip just healed my inner child who watched The Mummy Returns 400 times on VHS. George of the Jungle and Scorpion King in the same room giving each other their flowers?? Inject this wholesomeness directly into my veins.”
Another said, “Legends lift each other. Class moment.”
“Brendan Fraser taking a chance on a wrestler with zero acting experience is wild when you think about it. Imagine how different Hollywood would look today without that one decision.”
“never forgetting who put you on is top tier behavior. a lot of people get famous and get amnesia. massive respect to the rock.”
“THAT’S WHY BRENDAN FRASER IS MY GOAT IM SO HAPPY HE’S BACK MAKING MOVIES AGAIN.”
“Brendan is a national treasure, such a good dude man.”
“That’s actually cool of him to recognize Fraser. He was great.”
And finally, “This is so inspiring. Helping someone believe in themselves can change the course of their life forever. It shows the power of support, risk taking and kindness. Moments like this remind us to lift others up because you never know whose life you might change.”
What do you think about this wholesome interaction? LMK in the comments!