Last time we saw Brendan Fraser, it was for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Although he's been an action-adventure guy in recent flicks, such as the Mummy movies and Journey to the Center of the Earth, Fraser returns to more dramatic fare in Extraordinary Measures, a film inspired by a true story that hits theaters Friday. Starring opposite Harrison Ford, Fraser plays John Crowley, a man who suddenly discovers that two of his three children have Pompe disease, a rare genetic disorder that potentially could end their lives before they even begin. Our Nancy Mills talked with Fraser recently in Los Angeles, so read below for her report.

Photo by Merie Wallace

"This is an affirming story about life," Fraser says of his new film. "John Crowley is one of the most principled and driven individuals I've ever met. There were no lengths he wouldn't go to in the interests of his family. He had to endure a lot, and he had to take a lot of risks. He had to question his moral compass in certain areas, personally and professionally." As the father of three boys — Griffin, 7, Holden, 5, and Leland, 3, with ex-wife Afton Smith — Fraser understood the great emotions and love that come with being a father. "I went through 'what am I going to do with my life' through the age of 20," he says.  "Then it became me-me-me.  Suddenly I realized, 'Oops, I've got a life.'  Now it's actually getting easier."

Like most parents, Fraser juggles work and raising children. "It's always difficult being a father when you're acting because you're away from your kids," he says. "What do you do? You send for them. They come. They visit. They see Daddy at work. They get excited. They get bored. They think the craft service table is the coolest thing ever invented." With Extraordinary Measures, being a father while playing a father was helpful. "I personalize any role I take on," Fraser says. "It's certainly part of my method. I want to be able to find a connection to it."

Will Fraser be making a fourth Mummy movie? "They have my phone number," he says cagily. "Last I heard, there were embalming practices in the Andes and other parts of the world too. If you've got mummy problems, you know who to call. I haven't hung up my guns." As for a sequel to his successful 2008 action-adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth, he notes, "I'd like to see if we could make another one, although I don't know if we'd go to the center of the Earth."

Fraser is as careful about paying to see a film as he is about choosing his roles. "I don't want to get bored or bore the audience either," he says. "If I'm going to plunk down the money to see a movie, I want to see something a little outside the ordinary — in the type of film, in the type of performance an actor is giving, in the type of subject matter itself. That way I can see how the industry has progressed, see what the social mores of the day are. That's what I'm hoping for. Take me. Transform me. I don't like to be underwhelmed."