by Paul Fischer

Brendan Fraser's star shone even brighter in the unexpected hit adventure The Mummy. Now he's back in the high-budget sequel that's about to lead one of the busiest Hollywood summers on record. In this one and only online interview, Fraser talked to Paul Fischer via satellite from Sydney, Australia where he is shooting Philip Noyce's The Quiet American.

It's about 6.15 in the morning, Sydney time and Brendan Fraser is remarkably chirpy. "I went to Taronga Park Zoo yesterday and almost mated with an Emu. So a word of advice is not to get too close to those animals." Advice noted. Fraser's hectic shooting schedule meant he was unavailable to fly to Los Angeles to participate in the frenetic press junket surrounding the release of his latest pic, The Mummy Returns.

Fraser says that he had no reservations in revisiting familiar cinematic ground. "We had already established, I think, a great and existing rapport with all the characters that managed to survive the first film, which was important when it came time to doing a sequel", the actor explains. "We were all fortunate to have at least had the first film to take us into the sequel. But I was also delighted to have the opportunity to do this, because I had such a great time working on the first one."

In describing the sequel, Fraser feels "that it was wise for the story to pick up 10 years after we left off and thus dispenses with the kind of getting-to-know-you structure that was required in the first film." The new, more ambitious sequel is set in 1935, 10 years after the events of the first film. Rick O'Connell (Fraser) is now married to Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), and the couple have settled in London, where they are raising their 9-year-old son Alex (played by screen newcomer Freddie Boath). When a chain of events finds the corpse of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) resurrected in the British Museum, the mummy Imhotep walks the earth once more, determined to fulfil his quest for immortality. But another force has also been set loose in the world...one born of the darkest rituals of ancient Egyptian mysticism, and even more powerful than Imhotep. When these two forces clash, the fate of the world will hang in the balance, sending the O'Connells on a desperate race to save the world from unspeakable evil, and rescue their son before it is too late. The sequel also affords his character to emerge as a father, and so Fraser was able to practice fatherhood, at least on screen. "It was a great opportunity to be a make-believe dad and Freddie Boath is an amazingly intuitive kid." But as for his family plans, not quite yet "but hopefully one day."

One of the more elaborate components of this new Mummy was the added number of visual effects, most of which were computer generated. "One of the appeals of doing a film like this is seeing how far we've come in terms of CGI. That was another reason why I wanted to be involved with the film, because they had the ability to really make the actors work even harder." Fraser cites a fun sequence set on a London bus, during which he is fighting an ancient Egyptian who is not there. "There was a lot to react to and also a lot to play with, which turned out great in the final edit. When I saw that scene put in via the computer, it was extraordinary. It allows one to really use one's imagination, a powerful actor's tool in a film like this. The continued technology has evolved since the first Mummy, and that's pretty cool."

Meanwhile, shooting a Hollywood blockbuster such as Mummy Returns enables the busy actor to work on smaller projects such as The Quiet American. "I'm certainly gratified that my name helps a film like this get made, and it's a film that Phillip has wanted to make for years, and selfishly I wanted to have the opportunity to travel to Vietnam and Sydney, and have the chance to work there." Based on the novel by Graham Greene, the film is set in 1952 Vietnam against the backdrop the war of liberation from French colonial rule, and features Michael Caine as a jaded newspaper reporter who shares an ambivalent friendship - and the love of Phuong, a beautiful young Vietnamese woman - with an idealistic but naive American aid worker (Fraser). He describes director Noyce "as like the Brigadier-General of directors. He's a man with an absolute vision of this piece. I also think that he's one of the leading politically minded and dramatic authorities of this period." Fraser was also a great fan of the Greene classic novel "which I recall was being sold as bootleg copies in Saigon. It's an incredible work."

Brendan has a bit more time to go on Quiet American, and with the threat of a looming actors' strike, the actor will head to London's West End for Tony Award-winning director Anthony Page's revival of the Tennessee Williams' classic Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Fraser plays Brick opposite Frances O'Connor, who was also his unattainable love interest in the recent Bedazzled. Brendan describes his theatre project as "my contingency plan for the strike", but clearly it also means a return "to my first love, the theatre." Brendan's other love is his wife, 33-year old former actress Afton Smith, who travels with him as much as possible on location. "She was with me in Vietnam and just left Sydney." Brendan Fraser, very much a 'quiet American' loves his life. "I have so much satisfaction in my life. I have a beautiful wife and the great stimulation of an interesting career. I'm the most happy fellow that I know."