As far as homecomings go, it doesn’t get much bigger — or louder — than Academy Award-winning actor and Indianapolis native Brendan Fraser’s return as the honorary starter of the Indianapolis 500.
Notably, the American-Canadian actor, whose expansive filmography includes starring roles in 1999’s “The Mummy,” 2023’s “The Whale” and the upcoming D-Day drama “Pressure,” in which he plays President Dwight D. Eisenhower, only lived in Indiana for less than a year before his family moved away. That said, there may not be a better way to affirm one’s status as a Hoosier than climbing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s flag stand and kicking off the largest single-day sporting event in the world.
Ahead of his green flag-waving duties, Fraser briefly sat down with IndyStar to discuss his atypical homecoming, his first impressions of the 500 and more. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: Despite being born in Indianapolis, your exposure to the city and Indiana as a whole has almost exclusively come after you moved away. What’s it like returning to a place where you’re technically a native and getting to know it now as an adult?
A: I had a real funny response when I came back as an adult (around a decade ago), which was a feeling of community that I wasn’t anticipating. Like, OK — “Indiana native” — that meant something to me, more than I anticipated, because I hadn’t been native to Indiana (for a long time). Yes, I can make the compulsory “Hoosier and a hoser” joke because I’m Canadian, too, but it means something completely different when I consider an event like (the Indianapolis 500). In spectator sports, this is pretty much the nucleus, isn’t it? It’s like, the central event: 350,000 people in a day come to watch? I mean, that level of engagement and passion for something that we find we all agree on: the love of this sport and vehicles, and our human need for speed and acceleration satisfied, and for loud noises. Getting the thrill of aerodynamic cars that are built for speed. It’s so thrilling, and it’s a real special part of American culture that we can all have consensus about that we like.
Q: In limited glimpses, what have been your first impressions of the Indy 500 and the culture around it? I imagine you’ve seen a lot more, say, adults dressed as sausages than you would in your typical day-to-day.
A: It’s the realization that when I meet people who work here, this is their culture, this is their place, that underneath it all everyone sort of has the same appreciation from collectively being a big nerd about all of this stuff and just loving what it’s about and what goes into it. The level of ability and interest and just passion that everyone has here is really inspiring. And it’s also nice to see people who may have real stern and gruff exteriors, but underneath it all they’re really enthusiastic in an unbridled way. You know, its fundamental quality is just enjoying yourself on one very, very special day.
Q: You’ve previously visited Indianapolis for the Heartland Film Festival (in 2019 for a retrospective screening of “The Mummy.”) What role do you feel smaller festivals like Heartland serve for film at a time when much is made about creators’ difficulties getting original ideas on the screen?
Fraser noted that in his roughly 35-year career, he’s lived and worked through several technological innovations including 3D, computer-generated imagery and shooting on digital, comparing the transition to “going from horse and cart to internal combustion overnight.” He said despite these changes, the core components of filmmaking are unchanged.
A: One thing that will never, ever change is the tradition of storytelling. It doesn’t matter if it’s a silent film, a talkie, 3D, color, digital, whatever. It’s the story that always, always resonates. So when films come to Heartland for a retrospective, it’s because these are the stories that have resonated with people. And when I was a guest of that festival, I was really touched that they had done a retrospective of work that I had participated in. I know I don’t speak for anyone but myself, but we want to see stories we care about. And that means while it may be easier to get them on the screen, you still have to rely on the fundamentals.
We’re creating a piece that we can all relate to or that gives us a new perspective, not unlike where we are right now at the Indy 500. At the end of it all, it is “cars going fast,” but there’s a lot that goes into it and what it means to everyone. Films mean different things to many people and it’s not just entertainment; it becomes an identity, it can become a means of expression or statement. Cinema is something we can love and we can dislike at the same time, but we can all agree that the need for it is always gonna be there. So as long as that exists, films will be championed at festivals like Heartland.
Yes, there are film festivals like Venice and Cannes, and that’s a caliber of storytelling that has to do with presentation and ritual and circumstance and sometimes “sanctimoniousness” — I’m saying that with quotation marks — but you know, that’s the spectacle of it all. And they’re all unique and wonderful in their own way. (Heartland and Cannes/Venice) are on opposite ends of a spectrum, but they’re all about the same thing: how we all love movies.
Q: What do you hope to see at Sunday’s race?
A: I don’t want to make any predictions, but I hope we see a new and deserving champion emerge. It’s always exciting. And that’s nothing against the current champ (Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou), but it’s a sport that is “I can do something that you can do faster and better” until you can’t. And I just love this nucleus of attention where all these people come to one place and for one time a year. This is the Vatican. This is the big house. This is where it happens. So, it’s a privilege to be here.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘It’s the Vatican’: Brendan Fraser talks Indy 500, Hoosier homecoming
Reporting by Bradley Hohulin, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
