Brendan Fraser’s acting chops were enough to make him believable in the role of a band’s lead guitarist, despite not having any musical prowess himself.
“Idon’t play the guitar,” the actor, 54, said on Tuesday’s episode ofThe Drew Barrymore Show, while discussing his character in the 1994 comedyAirheads, one of his first starring film roles.
TheCritics Choice Awardwinner went on to recall how he admitted to the movie’s director,Michael Lehmann, at the time that he’s “not a musician” — but Lehman, 65, wasn’t fazed.
“He goes, ‘That’s fine, none of those guys are anyway,’ " Fraser told hostDrew Barrymore, laughing. “So he gave me the job!”
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Drew Barrymore and Brendan Fraser.The Drew Barrymore Show/CBS
Last month,Varietypublished itsActors on Actors conversationbetween Fraser and Sandler, who star in the 2022 filmsThe WhaleandHustle, respectively, as theyreminisced about makingAirheadsnearly three decades ago.
“Remember when I discovered you? You were just a kid,” Sandler, 56, jokingly told Fraser. “I stole you fromPauly [Shore]and said, ‘Get over here.’ "
“Is that how it shook out? Get out of here,” Fraser responded.
“I was like, this guy shouldn’t just be a caveman — he should be in a band,” Sandler told Fraser, referencing the actor’s breakout role in 1992’sEncino Man, in which he played a caveman named Link.
Adam Sandler, Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi inAirheads(1994).20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock
During the conversation, Sandler claimed that Lehmann “was very against” casting Fraser in the movie initially — to the point that Sandler himself stepped in to help get the job done.
“He was like, ‘I don’t get it. I don’t see the caveman being in the movie,’ " Sandler said. “And I just said, ‘He can do other s—, man.’ "
“I eventually went to [Lehmann’s] house at like 4 in the morning, woke him up, and I said, ‘Just know Adam Sandler ain’tgoing to be inAirheadsunless old Fraser is in it,’ " he recalled. “So he changed his little tune.”
When Fraser noted that Lehmann also “sang a different tune” when he flew to Chicago to meet with Fraser about the film, Sandler joked that the director lied to him.
“He didn’t want you.Idid, and the rest is pretty good,” Sandler said. “You had a good life because of me!”
source: people.com
