Transcript

Brendan Fraser on his lifelong search for belonging

From Fresh Air · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 41 min · 6,902 words · 101 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Brendan Fraser on his lifelong search for belonging", an episode of Fresh Air published December 17, 2025 (41 min, about 6,902 words). It mentions 9 people, works and ideas, including Rental Family, Brendan Fraser, The Whale, Cornish College of the Arts, Killers of the Flower Moon.

What this episode is about

Brendan Fraser discusses the concept of "rental families" in Japan, a service that addresses the profound loneliness experienced by individuals in a densely populated society by providing surrogate relationships with hired companions. He explores themes of connection, isolation, and the human desire for belonging, illustrating how this unique practice reflects deeper societal issues while acknowledging the value of solitude for contemplation and reflection.

Key takeaways

  • In Japan, you can rent anything; even emotional connections are just a transaction away.
  • Loneliness thrives amid crowds; connection often requires a rented family rather than genuine kinship.
  • In cultures where therapy is stigmatized, surrogate relationships fill the emotional void—performers as healers.
  • Being 'othered' in Japan: a tall white man surrounded by courtesy, showcasing the cultural dance of distance.
  • The desire for connection is universal; we all secretly ponder who we'd hire to fill our voids.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Rental Family
  2. – 10:00: Brendan Fraser
  3. – 20:00: Brendan Fraser, Cornish College of the Arts
  4. – 25:00: Rental Family, Killers of the Flower Moon
  5. – 30:00: The Whale, Oage Nation
  6. – 35:00: The Mummy
  7. – 40:00: Stella Adler Studio
  8. – 41:13: Brendan Fraser

Notable quotes from "Brendan Fraser on his lifelong search for belonging"

  • They're just not so alone. And it may be a bit peculiar, as is the title, rental family. What is a rental family?
    about Rental Family · at
  • Crowd, but then again, I am tall and I do look a lot like Brendan Fraser, so I may have attracted some attention here and there, but and interesting to note if ever I was recognized,.
    about Brendan Fraser · at
  • And found acting anything and it came upon I found a listing for Cornish College of the Arts.
    about Cornish College of the Arts · at
  • Them is truly inspiring to me. Scorsesei said that he chose you to play in Killers of the Flower Moon, which is a film about a series of murders of members of the Oage Nation…
    about Killers of the Flower Moon · at
  • Carrying some extra pounds on my own body at that time from having done finished doing the whale.
    about The Whale · at
  • About the beating that your body had over the years, especially in your early career over The Mummy when you were doing The Mummy and some of those other very physical roles.…
    about The Mummy · at
  • He's he's done a bit of acting at Stella Adler studio and now he's transferred into the film making division [clears throat] of it.
    about Stella Adler Studio · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • Cornish College of the Arts — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • Oage Nation — Company · 1 mention · first at
    In Killers of the Flower Moon, which is a film about a series of murders of members of the Oage Nation in Oklahoma in the 1920s. he said that and you played an attorney and you come in pretty late in the film, but you're pretty bombastic.
  • Stella Adler Studio — Company · 1 mention · first at

Full transcript with timestamps

This was the night after the biggest night of your life. And I don't think I've seen you more excited to talk about anything else but your boy. You know what I mean? And it

the truth. And we walked out OF THERE GOING, "WHAT the just happened?" Yes. Yes.

Oh, that was a great night. Brendan, this is such an interesting premise because this is not fictional. Um, there are rental agencies that provide this service to people in Japan. When you were offered this role, how was it explained to you?

Well, there are about 300 or so businesses that operate now and have done since, I'm told, the early 1980s. Um the model is based on a need for people to fill the absence of loved ones or friends or people who never may have come through their lives but they have um [sighs and gasps] they still have a want to connect. So very often in as I've learned in Japan, people can become quite isolated for such a populous place.

It's so interesting, right? Because it's so populous. It's even shown in the film like you can feel how um how crowded, how the population is so dense,

beehive of activity. Exactly. And yet there's a a solitude and a loneliness there.

Yeah. Um, and as an actor in our film whose name is Akira Emotoan did point out for him and he just turned 77 by the way.

Bless him. He said um, sometimes solitude can be good. It gives you contemplation. It gives you reflection. [clears throat] And he says that you know heading into the fourth act of his life right now. So it's not necessarily such a bad thing, but it is something that people still want to fulfill.

Mhm. And they do so by hiring an individual who may be a performer, who may be someone who just has a talent or the patience to sit with people um and to be a type of surrogate for them. to feel as if they're just not so alone. And um it may be a bit peculiar, as is the title, rental family. What is a rental family?

You can rent nearly anything in Tokyo. You can rent a capy bar, right? Right. If you wish.

Yes. And this really doesn't deviate from that business model so much as it does provide for people who are um feeling feeling alone who um have the courage to ask for help.

That's interesting because part of the reason why this is a a service is because there's also a stigma around therapy.

Yeah. particularly in in Japan as I was told um there's a an attitude of um the word I think is forgive me for my pronunciation for those who speak Japanese it means the public face and the private face and the public face is the one that is the mask preventing what you truly feel for whatever's going on in your life. It's it it speaks to a certain um demeanor of uh stoicism that is just inherent in culture.

Brendan, your character, it's interesting. It makes a point to tell us that your character has been in Japan for seven years and he's still fundamentally disconnected. He's still otherred. I mean, first off, because he is a white guy and a token white guy and um a population

tall one at that tall. He stands out in a crowd. Yes. You actually spent how many months? Four months in Japan. Yeah. I mean with a predominantly Japanese crew. Is that right?

Entirely Japanese crew. This is a Japanese film. Japanese crafts and trades to make it everything. I mean cast, actors, everything with English language.

Yes, with English language. What did that experience for you just being in Japan, experiencing being an individual, an outsider? How did that help inform what feels like this inherent loneliness in your character? Well, I can understand how I would stand apart in a crowd, but then again, I I am tall and um I do I do look a lot like Brendan Fraser, so I may have attracted some attention here and there, but and interesting to note if ever I was recognized, um it's anathema for people to approach you in a way that would be frothing or would you please uh take a selfie or take an if I have an autograph something like that to to much of the population because that would in some way indicate that you'd make the other person uncomfortable or inconvenience them and um I I very often was never ever approached although I was clearly obviously who who I am.

Could you tell that they they knew who you were but there was that courtesy there?

Oh yeah. But compare that to any other populous city that I've been to. People will climb into my lap. I mean, at a restaurant or something basically. And that that just doesn't happen in Japan. I I I did not experience that. But people were redoubled in how they um extended courtesy to to me, to one another. um the the notion of burdening someone else with your troubles or your concerns is is just not how the way things work in in Japan as a as a cultural um mainstay.

There's a moment where you're asked in the film, if you in your own life were to hire someone to fill fulfill a role, um would you? And and I'm not going to say uh what you said in the film because people need to see it, but you did answer it in an honest way that gives us just a slice of an understanding of your character. Had you thought about that for yourself? Because it makes the audience think about that if we were in this position where we had the option to hire someone to fulfill a role in our lives, who would it be? Did you ask yourself that question?

Yes. Who would it be? A sister. I'm the fourth of four sons. And I can recall being a kid when our family lived in Europe. Um I was given books that came from the UK cuz they were printed in English and um one of them was a book about growing up and one of them had a picture that looked a lot an illustration that looked so much like me and and a and a girl and they were depicted as brother and sister and I I wanted that. I I wanted that relationship. I wanted I mean I had I had felt um I'd felt that because and I'll share this with you. Um I did have a baby sister and she did she did pass away at birth and in our family that was a you know that was a whole that was a vacuum that I didn't even couldn't make sense of it when I was very young and it happened. So I think I had that in intuitively in me that and I didn't want to hang out with my smelly aggressive three older brothers all

because you were the baby. I was the youngest. Yeah. How how far apart were your ages?

U two and three years apart age. Yeah. So Okay. And how old were you when you lost your baby sister?

I was it was 70s. I was probably around six or seven. Yeah. Five or six I think. Yeah. Yeah.

But that yearning was always there that understand. It was Brendan. Uh, a lot of people, a lot of places I should say, claim you in part because your father's work had you all moving around a lot as a kid. Where do you Where do you consider home?

Upstate New York now, but going backwards, it was a hopscotch pattern of growing up. I was born in Indianapolis. That's where dad's work was and where mom said, "Oop, time to go to the hospital." and then to Cincinnati Detroit um Ottawa, Canada. And from there in the mid70s, our family traveled to Europe. We were um housed in Holland. Dad's work was with Tourism Canada. And um

what did he do with Tourism Canada that had him move so much? I think he might have been a Gman for all I know.

You're not sure? Yeah, cuz in those days I just knew my dad had a lot of brochures in his office cuz people would want to know about Canada. So they would send packets of brochures and information. He was he was promoting Canada uh around the world overseas and uh that was that was his uh that was his position. Um so there was also affiliation with embassies and there was liazing with government people and I honestly don't know exactly what dad did. Sometimes he was writing, sometimes he was uh attending conferences and speaking his bad French. And you know, you're a kid, you're in your own world, and you know, dad has a job with Canada stuff. Like I didn't have the cool name because the other kids who did have that sort of hopscotch pattern were military families or they worked with I don't know. Uh I went to an international I went to the uh I went to an international school in Denhawk. It

was called um the American School of the Hank. And um a lot of the kids there, some of the their parents are military, so they they called themselves uh military brats.

Yep. I thought that was kind of a tough cool name, but I You wanted to be a brat.

Yeah. No, I was a brochure brat. That was as cool as it got for me. Also cool. You're one of the I think I think you hold the distinction of one of the only Canadianish people to have a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame, right? Because you're not technically a Canadian.

I I am a dual citizen born in the United States. My heritage is Canadian. I I feel that every time I'm in Canada, the air somehow does something different for me. I feel energized. I I truly feel like these are my people. Um, my French Canadian roots are are are strong. My my ancestors fought on the Plains of Abraham,

I learned. Um, Wow. Yeah. And uh, from what I can still see, every time I've worked in Montreal, French Canadians are a tribe. They really are uh um a tightlyknit group of incredible polite pirates of sorts. They're pierced and tattooed and they've got t they got tattoos and you know interesting hairstyles and and a prevalent attitude of if [sighs] long as you're not harming anyone or doing anything that could hurt someone, you go ahead. You be you. You be good. And they're a tribe. They really do stick together. And I, you know, I see that from the film film sets I've worked on, but just also in the the the proud heart of cultural heritage that they have, and that really speaks to me, too.

But growing up, how did that how did moving around in that way sort of impact your sense of belonging? It challenged it because to reinvent yourself or be picked up and moved and picked up and moved and picked up and moved causes you to need to redefine yourself, to find a way to assimilate. You're always the new guy. You're trying to fit in. Um, and that can be good and otherwise. I'm good in the sense that you might retreat into yourself in a with a feeling of loneliness because you don't fit in or you've become a little bit apathetic about wanting to try at least. And so it it can be a challenge, but many of the actors I've met have had similar backgrounds in their lives

by moving around. Maybe it has some connection with them redefining themselves or being, you know, quasi different people for different groups or wherever they are in those form formulative years. Um, I thought about that enough to, you know, have an answer for you, but [gasps] I have to say that it worked out for me, um, in a way that made me feel like I was always constantly striving to find a place that was home. And it turned out to be home was where I was wherever that was.

You also found home in this idea of acting which how old were you when it first came to mind for you that first I really like this and then second oh wait I think I can do this.

It would have been when I lived in Holland and we'd take our holidays to uh the UK and London. I first started seeing plays on the West End there in musicals. I think one of the very first musicals I saw was Oliver,

which is seeing a revival right now in London. I noticed I hope I'm there in time to catch it.

You love stories. You're 8 n years old watching a theater. When did it come to you that I'm going to make this something that I pursue? I'm going to pursue acting. I went to a boy's boarding school in Toronto and I was not a very good student. And it's not because I was uneducated or dim or didn't understand. It's because I didn't have consistency in uh curriculum. The other boys that I went to school with had all been there through the same system continuously. Mine was disjointed and all over the place. So, I did struggle academically a great deal. And it gave me intense insecurity. Certainly mathematics did.

That was a language that gave me anxiety and genu look I'm stammering. Genuine fear.

Brenda, you're making me nervous. I'm a journalist. Okay. That's why I got math is What was your hardest year? Do you remember that turn for you?

Yes. It was probably grade 12, my senior year, 11, my senior around there when I was sent out of the math class. Fraser, this is not for you. Get out. Is what I remember hearing. I mean, that that stuck me in the heart like an ice dagger. And so I did. I sat in a room across the hallway and I did a correspondence course, which is basically just ticking boxes. And to get my grade, um, it was like being told, "You're stupid. You offend me. Go away." And it wounded me. It really did. And I I thought, well, that's that must be true.

I don't know. Who am I? Where do I belong? And I knew the answer. It was, you know, with the little theater company where I found [sighs] a kinship with friends where I could meet girls for instance cuz they took all the parts that were needed for whatever production of Westside Story or you know I could be included in that. But that came to an abrupt end because my father's work ended and um he was made redundant and so suddenly I I was cut loose.

You all didn't have money for school anymore? Not at that school anyway. And I was crestfallen to say the least. My parents were helpless to do anything. I cracked open the yellow pages in Seattle and found acting anything and it came upon I found a listing for Cornish College of the Arts. I called them and they said, "You can audition, but you have to do it today." I drove in my mom's car to this address on Capitol Hill.

And um went in to a little blackbox room and I did not have an audition piece. Two contrasting, one classical, one contemporary. I didn't have a song. Honestly, I don't remember what it was that I did for them. I might have even read some thing from a book that I found quickly, a poem or anything. And they had me go through some improvised activities and they asked me, "How are you going to pay to get into school also?" I said, "I don't know." And that was a Friday. And they thanked me, sent me on my way. I spent the weekend biting my fingernails on I think that following Monday morning. It would have been, forgive me, it would have been a Tuesday. But anyway, I I called the next day, which is when the semester at Cornish began and spoke with who was someone who was clearly an intern or you know, college work study at the U student at at the office and asked his friend Brendan Fraser, I just want to know, I gave an

audition on Friday. Do you know if I've been accepted or not? And then I heard some papers kind of shuffling and the phone go just hang. And then they came back. Oh yeah, you're in. Come on. Come down. What? What? I didn't now. Yeah. So, I drove back and the next thing I know I'm sitting in an auditori auditorium getting a lecture on what is a pelgrant.

And 1992 was such an interesting year because you had two distinct roles uh that you played in two big movies. There was in Cen Man where you played a frozen caveman in his absur It was a pretty absurd but funny comedy. It was my favorite movie back in the day. And then uh school ties where you played a Jewish quarterback confronting anti-semitism at a prep school. And this was an interesting uh production because it was the introduction of a lot of actors that we have come to know now. So it's you, it's Matt Damon, it's Ben Affleck and

Chris O'Donnell and Chris O'Donnell, Colehauser. Yes. So one of these films was silly and the other one was quite serious. Um, that seems like that's that's rare to have two films as breakout roles that had were two distinctly different characters. Did you know the type of actor that you wanted to be at that at that time?

I was I shot School Ties the film before I did In No Man and I had auditioned for Incino Man before I auditioned to get the role in School Ties. I I I I knew that in Cenino Man was a broad comedy and I thought, "Yeah, I could do that." I understood my academic mindset. I can be clown. I know. I've done clown work. I know what I'm doing.

I got the part in the audition for Mino Man. Large part, I think, because I was wrestling with plants and painting the walls with ketchup. That's what it said in the script. Okay. So, anyway, um I actually did it and they they they wanted me. Um, but I thought it's it's not beneath me, but not really how I want to introduce myself to the world.

Yes, I had I had pretentions of, you know, crafting a career early early on. The opportunity to play the kid in school spoke to me a great deal. Like I said, because I did go to a boy's private school, I I do know what happens to young men in that environment when they wear blazers and ties, but are handed a copy of Lord of the Flies when they arrive there

as an ad hoc survival guide. And that's the truth. That's the truth. That's the truth.

You did truly. Yes. Yes. Um, so I wanted to be a part of the film. What does it mean?

What does one mean? What does it mean to be handed that book and to be told while you're wearing a tie and a suit?

Pay attention because this is how you uh could frankly live or die in this environment where you live in a society of your peers and wonder where are all the adults? I'm glad things have changed. I know my own kids have gone to schools and as such and and the environment is different now thankfully. Um but it did put an did give me an impression of how to proceed. Um, so while I'm not a Jewish kid, I wasn't, I I I do know what it feels like to be an outsider looking to be a part of it.

There's something so timeless about that movie and that story. I think it holds up. That really got me thinking about something else that I heard you say um during the press run for Rental Family when you were in London where you you said that the film reminded you that you're good enough and had always been. That's such a vulnerable thing to admit and I also think I was surprised to hear it at at this late stage in your career.

I struggle with confidence daily all the time. Um, and I should because I think I need to be reminded by myself that I am enough. I I don't have anything to prove necessarily any longer and I have everything to prove still. And I don't want to be so comfortable as to rest on the laurels of an accomplishment, an affirmation, an award for instance, so that I lose the hunger and the desire to continue and grow and learn. There's so many filmmakers who are incredible that I I I want to get something from. I worked with Martin Scorsesi. I worked and worked with Hikari. I mean we could talk about this but she is unique and new and brilliant. She is her namesake.

Akari means light. The director of rental family. Yes. Yes. You have worked with great directors. You have worked with Scorsesei and Areronowski and these people that I mean the list is very long and in a very long career. Well, what I learned from working with, you know, these exalted esteemed esteemed directors is that something I should have known all along, but it's the truth is they're just people. They they they think in many of the same ways that, you know, I share that vernacular with them because there's, you know, a commonality in the in the field. They they love to rehearse.

Martin Scorsesi pushes furniture around himself on on the floor to block scenes. He wants to solicit ideas from actors and he he makes decisions on the you know on the on the on the spot in the moment to to deviate from a plan. And here I had these you know these pretentious ideas that he was masterful and that he would have everything u um prescribed as he wanted it and deemed it to be. Yes, he certainly knew what he was doing, but he is a collaborator. He's really an ensemble player. He's

he he doesn't perceive himself as being so exalted as I was imagining that he would do. And to see Scorsesi work that way and Areronowski work that way. Also, being surrounded by people who are so committed to what they do and committed to the vision of the one bringing it to them is truly inspiring to me. Scorsesei said that um he he chose you um to play in Killers of the Flower Moon, which is a film about a series of of murders of members of the Oage Nation in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Um he said that and you played an attorney and you come in pretty late in the film, but you're pretty bombastic.

And one of the things he said he he admired your skill, but he also admired your ability to take up the space on the screen.

That's what he wanted. When I spoke to him, it was co times, but he said he needs to be large. He needs to be powerful and assertive because that character actually was a composite of many different lawyers representing that of trials. There were many during [clears throat] u that film, but it's, you know, it's the what the fourth act of a Scorsese movie. It's when the hammer drops and now everybody the reckoning is here. And so what happens while they're in court and everyone has to atone for their sins as it were. And he uh absolutely directed me to be large. And I was carrying some extra pounds on my own body at that time

from having done finished doing um the whale. The whale, right? You had just gotten done with it.

Yeah. So I I I was quite larger than than I am now, for instance, in this um stage of wherever my body is now. But and that was useful to him because um I mean not only was I sitting next to Bob Dairo and defending him in federal court and going head-to-head with John Liskgow um in a bellowing contest to a judge who in that at that time lawyers fought trials based on how colorful and bombastic and large they were.

You mentioned how you wanted to play this outsized person. That's what you were cast to do. You were meant to be bombastic in that way, but how did you approach playing someone complicit in such horrific crimes without making him a cartoon villain?

When we started to shoot that scene, Martin told me that this should be like for Leo's character and it should be like Night of the Living Dead because everyone is in on the no and he's ushered into the hot seat and he's going to be intimidated into getting what they want. He not only has to swim upstream, he has to be the boulder in in the stream at the same time.

Your your character came pretty late um in the film, but again uh had a really outsized role. Did you spend a lot of time on the set? Because what was interesting about this particular film is that it centers on these Oage voices and it was made in deep collaboration with that nation. What was it like being part of a production where you're you're working with with real people? You know,

it was like living in uh an opera in that courtroom scene because it was a Baptist church that had been designed on the inside to be brand new 1920s federalist architecture. So, it was squeaky clean columns, power, you know, the death start. And the galley was filled with, you know, the extra players, the extras uh concerned. And they were First Nations. They were Osage members authentically. They really were. So this this was intensely personal. This whole movie is it's about them for them.

And it was populated by them purposefully. And there's the sense of authenticity. He shot with four cameras, quadruple coverage. I unless it's a action car wreck or something like that, you don't often see this was this was just to play the scene. a wide on them, one on me, one on uh uh Leo, and another one hunting for um reaction shots. And the scene went on for, you know, several minutes. So, we really were in almost like a stage play when shooting that

because typically that's not how Scorsesei uh works, just how we've learned how he works. And also because maybe you'd do it over and over because there wouldn't be four cameras getting kind of that 360° view.

I think you can see pretty much everything with four cameras turning and it's not often that that happens unless it's like a car wreck scene or something like that. And also [sighs] because he really uh that's how he shot that day at least. But that's how he um really just sought for to find the authenticity of these moments and not revisit it and do it too many times. I can understand that. You know, a lot has been said um about you coming back, it being a comeback after The Whale or during The Whale, and you make the point to say that you had always been here just in smaller roles or in television or in streaming series. You know, one of the things that um you talk about quite a bit and you mentioned the girth of your body in um this movie, but you've talked about the beating that your body had had over the years, especially in your early career over The Mummy when you were doing The Mummy and some of those other

very physical roles. When did you realize that your body was that you were in pain that that you had turned a corner? that I was paying attention to uh myself and that um I needed to to slow down. I I had probably an unhealthy sense of still feeling like I needed to earn this somehow and was and I'll be honest if I counsel myself from back in the day I was trying too hard. Yeah, I took every precaution and stunt teams are there for safety and you know all precautions were always taken but then again at that time I was you know I was a fit guy I I had plenty of practice with you know rough and tumble stuff whatever and I thought you know I can do this but I didn't have to although I did because I had this misconceived this misconceived notion that I had to be earning this somehow.

So, you were pushing your body hard a little too hard. Like, you know, if I wasn't in pain or bleeding, I wasn't working hard enough. And that's not necessary. I would caution actors to not do that. And anyone in any field, too. And it took me um being confronted by, you know, a host of like I won't go into the laundry list of things I had to get sorted out with a surgeon, but it it took me having to step back from that and say, "Hey, you know, you got to protect yourself, too, man." I

you had a lot of surgeries. I did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm pretty bolted together on the inside now. But the most important thing is I'm out of pain. I have great mobility and with, you know, uh training and caution, I can still do a version of the things that we did before. And also, I'm glad to tell a stunt man, hey, you're going to be great in this shot.

You could take this from this point, right? You know, uh, one of the things I I I want to make sure I talk to you about because I've just been so curious about it. It's something that we don't often talk about when we, um, are talking about men being objectified. And you were objectified in a very specific way in Hollywood back in the 90s, in the early 2000s. I think you even referred to yourself as a walking stake. Can was that ever something that was of concern for you or bothered you or felt like out of step with who you were?

Absolutely. I I lived in my body. I didn't necessarily I' already told you I contend with confidence on the daily basis, but I can remember feeling being spoken of as if I'm not even in the room and being picked apart by I don't know some production or executive as if I was a horse or something like that. And it it made me feel well, you know, like a walking steak or or piece of meat, I guess. Um and and I could uh automatically um empathize with clearly the women who've always had to contend with this kind of derision. And it it made it made me aware like I got off relatively easy by comparison and knowing the that type of objectification and the damage it can do to people

in that way. Does it feel like a relief to get older? It does. Yeah. That and I have fewer uh not concerns but I I I care about bigger issues now more than I did in a conceptual way. And I don't let things that really are superfluous bother me as much as I did because I learned to ask myself, what's the worst thing that could happen in this situation?

And whatever the answer is lets me know if or not I need to be concerned about it or if I should.

Two of your sons are models, so right. Well, yeah, they did do that as kids, but they've kind of evolved since now. One Leland is a rock star in waiting. His band just won Battle of the Bands at Terry Town Playhouse. Go Hunter Road

and free recording session, dude. And he's awesome. I don't know. Look him up on the interwebs. But um he looks like a rock god, too. Oh my goodness.

Well, that's what I was going to say cuz I mean I saw them at the Oscars with you and there are these two like statues next to you,

right? They're good. Have you Have you had these discussions with them though? you know, they may not be directly in Hollywood, but they're Hollywood adjacent. They're vis, you know, they're in visual medium. They're they're dealing [clears throat] with that that level of, you know, eyes being on them.

I don't think that we're at the point now in, you know, their lives and our our relationship where I really feel like I need to counsel them. There's no way I could talk to my youngest son, Leland, about music because I am not a musician and it is foreign language to me. The day after the Oscars, we hadn't seen each other in a couple of weeks because I' been running around doing press. And so I got a pair, it was a Monday, I got a pair of tickets to go to the whiskey just to see anything as fortune would have it. Um there was an 80s revival band that was just knocking the heck out of standards. So, you know, we went and it was awesome. A little bit little bit tacky, cheesy, but wonderful, you know, like

and you know, there's all these guys on there who were in rock bands in the 80s and they're all dry now. So, this is what they do on Monday nights. And as we were watching, uh, a guy sat down next to me and he had the guy liner and the rings and he

he was total rapper. Full on. Yeah, totally. And he introduced himself cuz the seat was empty next to me. I said, "Hey, man. How are you?" And he recognized me. He said, "Hey, congratulations on the Oscar." I was like, "Thanks." And I was there with my son. I said, "This is Leland." He's a he's a musician. And the man who sat down next to me said, "Oh, really?" And they start speaking to each other in code. And I don't know what they're talking about. And at one point, I'm like, "Who is this?" And Leland's face just lights up because he says, "Dad, that's DJ Ashba."

What? IT'S DJ ASHBA. WHAT? IT'S DJ Ashba. WHO is DJ Asha? Right. He's the seventh or eighth guitarist for Guns and Roses. And I'm like, seriously, that is awesome. So now I'm geeking out a little bit. The next thing I know,

DJ says, do you wanna Do you want to play with us? And Leland goes, could I? We're in the dressing room. Not eight minutes later, signing the brick wall. They give him a guitar. He walks up on stage with all of them. They're playing a standard that he knew. Tanya, I'm telling you, he killed it. Okay, he killed it. He took to like a fish to water and he was in he had a little solo in there. He looked like he'd always been there,

man. Seriously. And then afterwards, um, the guy told me like, "Look, a lot of guys come through the whiskey and they talk a good game, you know, they

Yeah. they have aspirations and every now and then you go, "Oh, really? Here's your axe."

Right. Right. Right. Go ahead and like destroy it. Show Show us, you know, either they they take it or they don't. And if they do, maybe they suck. Maybe they're just playing for themsel. But it's a test of sorts, like a challenge of almost mythical levels of, you know, musicians. Think about it. But what they said of Alan was that he listens to everyone else on stage with him. He was listening. 16 years old and he played the whiskey.

You know what I love about this story, Brendan? Okay. First, as a parent, I just love when I see parents geek out about their kids. But second, this was the night after the biggest night of your life, and I don't think I've seen you more excited to talk about anything else but your boy. You know what I mean? And it

that's the truth. And we walked out OF THERE GOING, "WHAT THE JUST HAPPENED?" YES.

YES. [screaming] OH, that was a great night. And Holden is in film school at NYU. He has an almanac knowledge of cinema either because of the device in his hand that he grew up with probably, but also because he has a love for the craft.

Yeah. He's he's done a bit of acting at Stella Adler studio and now he's transferred into the film making division [clears throat] of it.

And he's one of those kids who has uh a vast knowledge base like so many of his peers do. and they're so young and so ambitious and so intelligent, but they're up against a fastchanging uh industry that's redefining really what it means to do that work to work in that field daily. Are we performing for small screens and hands on buses or

Yeah, there's so much change. There's so much Are we working for a streaming service company? Yeah, you know, if you are, I mean, if that's the way it is. And are we doing so much work on the cheap that they can just pipe through these streaming companies and there's even fewer and fewer and fewer opportunities to work on films that you could find meaningful that belong in Cinemascope, you know, belong on a big screen. They belong in before an audience, an assembled audience to have the common ritual of going to the movies again. And fewer and fewer of those are being made.

He's coming up in a different world than you did. He's going to be teaching me how to navigate it any minute now.

Well, that makes me wonder. I mean, you've done so much, Brendan. Um, you've had such a illustrious career and you've been so candid with us about the ups and downs and some of the dark moments that you've also experienced. Um, what what aspirations do you still have as you look at roles? You you're now, you know, you've you've now won an Oscar for best actor. You're taking on roles that really push you in direction stories you've never heard before or what what's what what do you want to do that you haven't done yet?

I want to make movies that people genuinely want to see. I'm sorry if that sounds derivative, but I really do. And it's a challenge like I say in this landscape of so much uh clutter and noise that comes from the product being beamed at us all at once. I have to look for the places where it's quiet or I have to look for the projects that can can dominate in that very crowded place. Get in there and throw elbows and that's what it would take. So to answer your question, at the end of the day, I really just want to make movies that people see.

Brendan Fraser, this has been um such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much.

You too, Tanya.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Brendan Fraser on his lifelong search for belonging"?

Tanya (Host), Brendan Fraser (Guest).

What is "Brendan Fraser on his lifelong search for belonging" about?

Brendan Fraser discusses the concept of "rental families" in Japan, a service that addresses the profound loneliness experienced by individuals in a densely populated society by providing surrogate relationships with hired companions. He explores themes of connection, isolation, and the human desire for belonging, illustrating how this unique practice reflects deeper societal issues while…

What is mentioned in this Fresh Air episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Rental Family, Brendan Fraser, The Whale, Cornish College of the Arts, Killers of the Flower Moon, Oage Nation. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Brendan Fraser on his lifelong search for belonging"?

The episode runs 41 min; the transcript is about 6,902 words in 101 timestamped sections.

More from Fresh Air

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.