Brendan Fraser Was So Starved For George Of The Jungle, His 'Brain Was Misfiring'

Brendan Fraser is looking back on one of the most iconic movie roles he ever worked — but behind the scenes, it wasn’t as fun as the finished product made it look!

The 54-year-old actor sat down for Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” series this week, in which two stars interview one another. His fellow star? An old pal: Airheads co-star Adam Sandler. And while the duo talked plenty about the craft of acting in their new films, some surprising details came out about things that happened in Fraser’s career more than two decades ago!

Specifically, the Happy Gilmore star wanted to ask Brendan about his iconic appearance in 1997’s comedy George of the Jungle. The family film was a huge hit at the box office and helped propel Fraser’s career into the stratosphere. Obviously his charisma and comic timing were on display, but so was everything else — the hunky actor was cartoonishly shredded and wearing next to nothing!

When Sandler asked about the movie — which immediately followed their time together on Airheads, Brendan jokingly recalled the very extensive (LOL) wardrobe situation to Sandler:

“The wardrobe was there was no wardrobe. George wears a loincloth.”

Ha!!

But the Billy Madison star wasn’t feeling it! Sandler joked he was “disappointed” in his co-star for looking so good in George of the Jungle. Cracking up about how hunky Brendan was in the film, Adam said:

“You went on to leave Airheads and get very jacked for George of the Jungle. I was disappointed how good you looked in that. You weren’t supposed to do that to us. You were supposed to remain like a human!”

Ha! The Sandman quipped:

“You weren’t supposed to do that to us. You did right by the character, but you did wrong by us, man. You made us feel bad about ourselves. Were you oiled up at all during George?”

Too funny! And we’re pretty sure he’s speaking on behalf of all men. Brendan was definitely the yardstick by which an entire generation was measured!

But innerestingly, the Whale star revealed his experience on George actually wasn’t that great. For one, his diet was severely limited while filming. Producers wanted to make sure he looked ripped on screen, so he wasn’t allowed to eat carbohydrates. At all. Oof!

Brendan recalled how the too-strict dietary restrictions even hampered his memory at the time:

“I was waxed. Starved of carbohydrates. I would drive home after work and stop to get something to eat. I needed some cash one day, and I went to the ATM, and I couldn’t remember my PIN number because my brain was misfiring. Banging on the thing. I didn’t eat that night.”

Jeez!!!

We’re not talking about a day or two here, either. Shooting a movie takes weeks — or months. Especially for the title character who appears in pretty much every scene, like Fraser did in George of the Jungle. And while the movie was a hit that brought in more than $170 million at the box office worldwide in 1997, it apparently wasn’t a smooth ride.

You can watch the two stars discuss Fraser’s experiences filming George of the Jungle in the clip (below):

"You went on to leave 'Airheads' and get very jacked for 'George of the Jungle,'" Adam Sandler tells Brendan Fraser. "I was disappointed how good you looked in that. You weren't supposed to do that to us. You were supposed to remain like a human!" https://t.co/17TjZ3E7w1 pic.twitter.com/QBlInKMcgv

— Variety (@Variety) December 6, 2022