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Dear Brendan Fraser,

Your career seems set for a bit of a low-key renaissance this summer. Glad to see it. I’ve always found you a likeable actor, and it’s good to have you returning to the limelight, or at least the penumbra of the limelight. Thanks to TNT, I’ve probably seen you in The Mummy half a dozen times. I even voluntarily watched the incredibly bizarre sequel. When you were on Scrubs, I totally bought that you were the coolest guy J.D. and Dr. Cox knew.

Looking over your CV, though, one thing that stands out is that you don’t really seem to be much of a risk-taker. Aside from the occasional low-profile indie, the vast majority of your films are remakes or adaptations, and you’re rarely asked to bear the entire star-power burden alone. True, Rachel Weisz wasn’t that famous before The Mummy and your Journey to the Center of the Earth co-stars are unknowns, but in both cases the special effects share the billing with you, to be honest.

I think it’s time for you to try out something new in your career. Something risky, but not too risky. Something that combines your natural charm with the moral ambiguity of your best roles. I submit for your consideration: the comic book villain.

Although you seem like a pretty nice guy, I definitely see in you the potential for pulling out the evil when called upon. Even your ostensible good-guy characters often have a streak of jerk in them. O’Connell from The Mummy was about to be hanged for … something, and your Scrubs character was pretty selfish and thoughtless a lot of the time, just charming about it. And based on this clip from Crash, you have a lot of potential to be a full-on asshole.

If you choose to join the ranks of supervillains in film, you’ll be among good company, including Willem Dafoe, Jeff Bridges, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman and your own former co-star Ian McKellan. Don’t be intimidated by the caliber of your potential brethren, however; they also include Colin Farrell, Sharon Stone and a post-American Beauty Kevin Spacey.

Gandalf, Jesus and The Dude. It almost makes me want to be a supervillain.

But I don’t think you’ll fall on the crappy end of the supervillain spectrum. The most memorable bad guys are both evil and likeable, and likeable is what you’re best at. Okay, you’re not that much of a chameleon, but there are supervillains for almost every character type. You seem ideally suited toward one of those fallen good guys, or one of those totally insane, off-the-wall villains who just has fun being evil. You have a Joe Everyman quality and a reputation as a goofball, which would make going to a dark place all the more interesting. Plus, you’d have a great outlet for all those one-liners you seem so fond of.

Though this kind of role would be rather significantly different for you, don’t worry: You won’t really be going that far out of your comfort zone. Like a lot of your higher-budget projects, comic book movies are special effects playgrounds. They’re also adaptations, and by definition you’ll be sharing the billing with someone else. Playing off the right person, you could prove to be a revelation.

Look at your role in Gods and Monsters, which was all about your potential for evil. While the movie belonged to McKellan, you provided a worthy foil and crush for him, trying to be a good guy but also struggling with your own anger and discomfort around him. How hard would it be to take that kind of character to a really villainous level? You punched an old man in the face, for goodness’ sake!

This summer is setting you up to become the king of the second-tier blockbuster. Why not raise the stakes and set your eyes on world domination?

Signed,
Jennifer Carman