Brendan Fraser promises San Francisco he’ll never make that George Of The Jungle mistake again
Brendan Fraser is sorry for a George Of The Jungle stunt that shut down traffic and caused minor panic in the Bay Area back in the '90s
Continuing his pre-awards season press tour for The Whale, the much beloved Brendan Fraser has apologized for what is perhaps the only thing the public could possibly have gotten mad at him over. And even that’s a stretch, given that looking back it’s a great party story more than anything else. Nevertheless, Fraser has extended a formal apology to the city of San Francisco for one major George Of The Jungle mix-up.
“I have almost an apology to make. When we were doing George of the Jungle, George goes to rescue a parachutist tangled in the Golden Gate Bridge,” the actor told SFGATE (which noted the scene actually occurred on the Bay Bridge). “That means Disney put a mannequin hanging by a parachute from the uprights.”
“It brought traffic to a standstill on either side of the bridge. My trailer was on the other side in a parking lot. I just remember watching the Golden Gate Bridge. There’s this dummy parachutist hanging from it,” he continued. “I had the TV on, and Oprah got interrupted because there was a special news report with helicopters saying a parachute is dangling on the bridge. And I’m going—wait a minute, I’m looking at the helicopters and TV—somebody didn’t pull a permit, somebody’s going to get in trouble with the mayor’s office. So I can only apologize for that.”
It’s surely all water under the Golden Gate and/or Bay Bridge now, but the anecdote did reportedly delight the audience when the former action star re-told it later while accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Bay Area’s Mill Valley Film Festival.
“One more quick thing—I just want to make a quick apology. A couple years back I made a film called George of the Jungle,” Fraser tacked on to his thank-you speech. After recounting the incident “to a roar of laughter from the crowd,” per SFGATE, he added, “So, that said—my bad, it won’t happen again.” Any Oscar voters holding the infamous George In The Jungle parachute incident over his head can now give Fraser their support with a clear conscience.