<p>Actor Brendan Fraser just won his first Academy Award (Best Actor in a Leading Role, &#8220;The Whale&#8221;) — but according to visual effects artist Dave Rand, the &#8220;Encino Man&#8221; star was a &#8220;righteous dude&#8221; long before he picked up that little gold statuette.</p>
<p>Rand told the story in a lengthy tweet, explaining that Fraser had been the one to step up when a studio bankruptcy resulted in his entire visual effects team getting stiffed for three weeks of work on a major film — to the tune of $1.3 million.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BrendanFraser?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BrendanFraser</a> is a righteous dude.</p>
<p>In November 2007 our paychecks stopped. I was the FX lead on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth</a> for Meteor Studios in Montreal and was asked to convince my crew to stay and finish the picture with a guarantee we&#39;d all get paid with overtime. We had… <a href="https://t.co/1jegFlWECd">pic.twitter.com/1jegFlWECd</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Dave Rand (@daverandla) <a href="https://twitter.com/daverandla/status/1635127342019346432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;<span class="r-18u37iz">#BrendanFraser</span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> is a righteous dude,&#8221; Rand began. &#8220;In November 2007 our paychecks stopped. I was the FX lead on </span><span class="r-18u37iz">#JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth</span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> for Meteor Studios in Montreal and was asked to convince my crew to stay and finish the picture with a guarantee we&#8217;d all get paid with overtime.&#8221; </span></p>
<p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">&#8220;We had a handful of shots left. As soon as we delivered the last shot, we were escorted out. It was two weeks before Christmas and we&#8217;d soon learn there was no money. Meteor was declaring bankruptcy. They owed us 1.3 million dollars,&#8221; Rand continued — and he said that he immediately contacted the press.</span></p>
<p>Variety talked to a number of Rand&#8217;s crew but ultimately passed on the story, explaining in an email to Rand, &#8220;The paper has decided that another visual effects company going bankrupt, however sad, is really not news worthy at this time.&#8221;</p>
<p>Rand shopped the story to a number of other outlets in Hollywood, getting similar results every time — and he began to believe that it was coordinated. &#8220;My guess was the studio had put pressure on them to bury it,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>So he put out a press release himself, which he said only sparked a threatening email and call from Variety and a warning from the labor department, telling him that going to the press could ruin any case they had.</p>
<p>He said that he tried to reach Fraser — the star and producer of the movie — through his people, but failed to make contact.</p>
<p>But then he got a call from entertainment gossip site Page Six, and he jumped at the chance to get the story a <a href="https://pagesix.com/2008/08/01/a-journey-in-search-of-pay/?_ga=1.128297740.1084022795.1394818778" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broader reach</a>. The story went live on August 1, 2008.</p>
<p>&#8220;My phone rang as I was reading the piece, a 212 area code,&#8221; Rand continued, saying that he assumed it was the Page Six reporter who had published the piece. &#8220;I answered to thank the girl, but a man answered and he said, &#8216;Is this Dave Rand?&#8217; I said, &#8216;Yes.&#8217; &#8216;This is Brendan Fraser, what the f*** is going on?&#8217; He had no idea that artists were not paid on his movie. He listened intently, asked a lot of questions and promised he would call me regularly until this was solved.&#8221;</p>
<p>Two days later, Page Six posted an update with a <a href="https://pagesix.com/2008/08/03/to-the-rescue-2/?_ga=1.85880601.1084022795.1394818778" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from Fraser&#8217;s representative, who said, &#8220;Brendan just heard about this for the first time. He’s on it. He thinks what happened is awful, and he’s extremely upset.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We finally got 80% of our money almost 2 years later,&#8221; Rand concluded. &#8220;To quote the great Steve Hulett: &#8216;What runs the world isn&#8217;t what&#8217;s right, or who&#8217;s the richest, it&#8217;s leverage, and who has it.&#8217; We&#8217;d had none, but Mr. Fraser gave us wings. He&#8217;s a righteous dude.&#8221;</p>

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Visual Effects Lead: ‘Righteous Dude’ Brendan Fraser Fought For Artists When Studio Refused To Pay Up

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Visual Effects Lead: ‘Righteous Dude’ Brendan Fraser Fought For Artists When Studio Refused To Pay Up