An online community is fiercely rallying around “Encino Man” actor Brendan Fraser in an effort to prevent him from fading into cultural oblivion.
Fraser, 48, was snubbed for the leading role in a reboot of “The Mummy,” the trilogy in which he starred during the late ‘90s and early aughts. Tom Cruise will take over the lead role in the 2017 movie.
Devout fans have taken note — and taken action, with an outpouring of memes, social-media campaigns and a Change.org petition with more than 33,000 signatures advocating for Fraser to land more TV and film roles.
“Brendan Fraser is a fantastic actor and person to work with, he has starred in films such as ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Journey to the center of the earth’ and now he needs our help,” the online petition says.
Pleas of #SaveBrendanFraser spread throughout Twitter, and a voracious page on Reddit committed to saving Fraser’s career logged more than 40 new posts in the last 24 hours. As of this morning, 54 Reddit users would prefer to see Fraser in the next installment of “Mission Impossible.” Others have successfully campaigned to get his ranking on IMDb among the top 500 actors.
Though evidence is sparse that Fraser actually wants to be “saved,” fans point to a recent painfully long AOL interview in which Fraser appears shaky and meek, a shadow of his former ‘90s heartthrob self.
“Brendan has been in multiple interviews recently and has appeared to be very down and out, and us loyal fans feel like we are obliged to help him in any way possible,” says the Change.org petition. “Please help us get Brendan back on his feet again, we miss him.”
The Westchester County resident recently appeared in Showtime’s “The Affair” as the menacing prison guard John Gunther. In an interview with The Post about the appearance, Fraser said he wasn’t upset about Cruise’s casting in “The Mummy.”
“Tom’s going to be great in it,” Fraser said. “He has incredible worldwide appeal.”
Fraser’s fans beg to differ.