George of the Jungle Review

NEW YORK -- Me Brendan. You Leslie.

We're in a new comedy called George of the Jungle.

No acting required.

Me have buff bodacious body. You have blond hair, bodacious body and squeaky voice.

What more could any movie company ask for?

Disney's George of the Jungle, which opens Wednesday, is a live-action version of the 1960s cartoon series about a vine-challenged jungle boy.

Like Tarzan, George lives in the jungle with his ape brothers and animal friends.

Unlike Tarzan, George is not adept at swinging through the jungle. He keeps smashing into trees.

Producer David Hoberman recalls that "as soon as word began circulating that we were working on a film version of George, Brendan Fraser turned up at my office as George.

"He spoke to me as George would speak and he even broke into the tribal scream every so often.

"He told me what a huge fan he is of the old TV series and that he has all 17 (original) episodes on tape."

Fraser, 28, explains that he is "a great fan of all cartoon lore but I especially loved George because it's a subversive spoof of Tarzan that's still great entertainment for kids."

Hoberman was the head of Disney feature productions when Fraser starred for the studio as the Cro-Magnon man in Encino Man.

"Brendan is this big, lovable guy with a heart of gold and that's what George is, so it seemed like natural casting."

Leslie Mann, who plays George's love interest, agrees.

"I fell in movie love with Brendan. He's really dreamy. He's warm and big-hearted, but he can also be really goofy. That makes him adorable."

Fraser is not worried that with Encino Man and George on his resume, he's typecasting himself as a lunk-headed hunk.

"I've done caveman and jungle man. Maybe next I'll do spaceman. I look at George as a kind of dunderhead sex symbol.

"He's not the smartest guy in town but he's easy on the eyes."

With Hoberman's blessing, Fraser was attached to the George of the Jungle project for a year before a director or any co-stars were hired.

When director Sam Weisman was hired, he asked for a meeting with Fraser.

"I'd heard that Brendan had been working out to get in peak physical shape for the role, but no one had seen the results and it was only seven weeks before we were scheduled to begin shooting the movie," Weisman says.

Fraser came into Weisman's office for show and tell.

"Brendan showed me a stack of photos of him working out and only then did he peel off his sweater and shirt. He'd got down to less than 6% body fat.

"It was absolutely remarkable. Brendan never gave up. He continued working out and dieting so much so that he eventually began to shrink.

"We forced him to start eating a lot of protein, especially fish, nuts and beans."

Mann recalls that, between takes, her jungle he-man would jog or head for the weight bench.

Fraser says he had to be dedicated to his diet and exercise regimes.

"My skin was my wardrobe. You can't fake a washboard stomach. You either have one or you don't."

Fraser did some of his vine swinging but only for closeups.

The real tree-smacker was South African circus performer Joey Preston.

"Joey took a lot of the danger out of the work for me and he kept the insurance premiums down for Disney.

"Joey didn't require cables attached to his body when he was vine swinging. I did. There's really nowhere to hide a cable when all you're wearing is a loincloth."

Fraser did manage to break his big toe early in the shooting schedule.

"Brendan was wrestling with a couple of the guys in the ape suits and he stubbed and broke his big toe," Weisman says. "He could walk with minimum pain but he couldn't run. We were restricted to shooting Brendan's treehouse scenes until his toe healed."

Fraser was born in Indianapolis, the fourth son of a Canadian bureaucrat who worked for the office of tourism. "We were always moving around when I was a kid. I asked my dad why and he said it was because Ottawa says we have to," Fraser says.

"To me, Ottawa was this big guy behind a desk who had this map. He'd throw darts at it to see where he could send the Frasers next."

It was in Ottawa that Fraser learned to speak fluent French and throw a mean javelin and got hooked on movies and theatre.

"It was in Toronto that I learned how to park cars and wait on tables.

"That's my Canadian heritage."

Brendan Fraser plays vine-challenged hero in George of the Jungle