As well as being a showcase for the best that the previous year in Hollywood has had to offer, the Academy Awards also allows old friends and former colleagues to reunite and reconnect, but you’d be selling it very short to state that Dwayne Johnson and Brendan Fraser are at very different stages in their careers than they were the first time they met.
The Rock was still a full-time professional wrestler when he made his feature film debut in The Mummy Returns, but nonetheless set the precedent he’d end up following for decades by pocketing the highest-ever salary for a first-time actor. Meanwhile, Fraser was riding high as one of the most popular figures in the business, before their paths eventually took radically different turns.
While their two characters technically shared scenes in Stephen Sommers’ sequel, the duo were never actually on set at the same time, with Fraser revealing that he didn’t actually meet Johnson in the flesh until The Mummy Returns held its premiere, being forced to act opposite a “piece of tape on a stick” that was transformed into one of the most infamously awful CGI creations you’re ever likely to see.
At long last, though, the former Scorpion King and longtime Rick O’Connell came face-to-face once again at the Oscars, with Johnson fully aware of the moment’s full circle nature.
Johnson also stepped in to replace Fraser as the lead of the Journey franchise, so their association runs further than battling back against the forces of Imhotep. With a Scorpion King reboot in development and the recently-crowned Best Actor winner riding the crest of a wave, fans are already fantasizing about them taking things to the next level in another Mummy blockbuster.