When Oscar Winners Show Us What Revival Means
Yesterday, on March 13th, was Oscar night, and I saw something beautiful in this year’s Oscar. I rarely write about things like Oscars, but this one is worth writing about, so I decided to write a piece about this year’s Oscar. Not from a cinematic approach but from the story behind the personal life and career revival of the Oscar winners, Brendan Fraser (best actor in a leading role) and Ke Huy Quan (best actor in a supporting role). Because these two are the old figures in this industry who have made a remarkable comeback to it this year.
Life is all good until…
The best actor in this year Oscar, Brendan Fraser, is a well-known actor in 20th-century movies; he’s starred in multiple big movies such as The Mummy and Encino Man; he was a big star in Hollywood. In the late 1990s, his career seemed to be at its peak until some personal problems began to affect it. In 2003, he was being sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, the former president of the HFPA, and after that, the relationship between him and Hollywood got ugly, which affected his career. The assault he had also has long-term effects on his mental health.
In the same time he’s struggling with the abuse and career problems he had, he also has health problems; he spent 7 years in and out of the hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries for physical injury caused by his acting stunts that he’s been doing regularly for years since his career debut. In the midst of hard times where he was hurt physically and emotionally, family is the only thing he can expect to support him to survive the hard times.
But when he needed family the most, his wife wanted a divorce. and the aftermath of his divorce, he has to pay roughly $900,000 annually for divorce, including child support. These situations also added more problems to his life; aside from mental and physical problems, he also suffered financial problems covering his heavy medical bills and paying a heavy divorce settlement.
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Life was good for Ke Huy Quan when he was a kid; he had a successful career as a child, appearing in films such as Indiana Jones and The Goonies. Working with Harrison Ford in a blockbuster movie during his career debut as a child was an astonishing achievement. This also led to his rising hope and expectation for his future career because his first step was good and he believed things could only get better. However, things did not go as planned for him. Despite his debut, he still stars in some movies, but he always considers that his career since his debut is going down rather than up because he didn’t get the offers he expected to star in big movies like he used to. And as time went on, the job offer dried up until he got no offer anymore. Being frustrated with the situation, he then decided to leave the acting world and pursue education in college.
“To work with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford on your first movie… there was nowhere to go but downhill.”
-Ke Huy Quan on disappointment in his career
You may feel everything is crushing down, but it’s not over yet.
The struggle Brendan has had since the 2010s makes him depressed and anxious. The long injury he had made him lose his passion for acting. He has mentioned that he felt burned out and disillusioned with the industry, and that he had lost touch with the joy and creativity that he had once found in his work. This condition forced him to rest away from the Hollywood spotlight.
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For Quan, after taking education In college, despite his plummeting acting career, he has not lost his appetite for the movie industry and still pursues a career in the industry. He still tried to revive his career by joining multiple casting calls, but his glamorous CV didn’t seem to help him land his desired role. So after all, he spent his career working behind the scenes, and it would seem he has no intention of returning to his acting career. It seems he already accepted that there’s no way for him to be back to his acting career.
“As an actor, one of the most difficult things is getting an audition and then getting rejected over and over again.”
- Ke Huy Quan on his hesitation to join a casting due to the multiple rejections he faced in his career
You can always turn things around.
Brendan, despite all his personal problems, is still willing to work on small projects during his break. He still has the willingness to work at his craft despite the fact that the world around him has fallen apart; he still has the desire to overcome his struggle and work his asses off to make things better. He refused to give up because he knows this is not the end, and if this is the end, then this is not the end that he wants.
Same goes with Quan; Quan seems to have lost all desire to pursue his acting career, and he’s been doing his daily job in the movie industry, watching the actors’ performances from behind the scenes. Then one day he watched the Crazy Rich Asians movie, watching his fellow Asians do well and gain recognition from all over the world, burning up his almost-dead desire. It wakes him up and makes him want to go back to his acting career; luckily, his desire came at the right time and was welcomed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who offered him a role in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, and the rest is something we all know today.
After the hard times both of them experienced, they were able to make a remarkable comeback to the industry and revive their careers, and even better, they both achieved something more, surpassing their previous achievements. And they really showed us that we are always able to turn things around.
Even things have been hard for Brendan, and the desire for an acting career seems forgotten by Quan. In the midst of desperation and hopelessness, not many can find motivation to wake up and stay strong in the midst of chaos because everything seems so hopeless and does not show any promising situations. But as humans, our only duty is to try more and work harder to make things better. And those who refuse to be dragged deeper into desperation will see the light they hope to see.
> Conclusion
You may be going through hard times; you may have given up on your dreams a long time ago; and you may feel everything is over and nothing is worth fighting for anymore. You may think it’s too late to try again, or you may think it’s over and you need to put these thoughts about dreams away. You may have accepted your defeat.
Everything you feel may have ever gone through their mind; it’s a common thought to have when people are desperate. But the difference is that they are willing to make things better. When you have the eagerness to overcome your struggle and are putting a lot of effort into it, then your revival is just a matter of time.
Source:
https://www.grunge.com/1007928/the-tragic-real-life-story-of-brendan-fraser/
