Brendan Fraser is known for his slapstick comedy roles, his latest in Furry Vengeance, which is about coping with animals and humans who all want a piece of him. In real life, there are three little boys who always want a piece of Brendan, his sons - Griffin, 7 1/2, Holden, 5 1/2, and Leland, 3 1/2. In a recent interview in Parade magazine, Brendan shares how he gets his kids to eat their veggies, the film's eco-friendly messge, his own weight, plus his fat dog.

On getting his kids to eat their veggies: "I had the gag reel from the film with every take of me being humiliated and smashed and trashed. So I'd use it as a reward to get my kids to eat their vegetables. I'd be like, 'Eat your broccoli and you can watch dad fall down again.'"

On the eco-friendly message to kids: "We all know that we should reuse, recycle, repair, respect, and return to the way we used to do things. But I think it's especially important to remind kids of that. They have great fun when they see this movie, but they also get the point about preserving nature. I was at a screening where some of them were actually quite indignant about the forest and all the creatures great and small being threatened for a development project. They're rooting for the furry guys all the way through it."

Porking up for the role. "I needed a bigger butt on account of there was going be a lot of physical comedy. I get thrown around a lot in the movie. But let's just face it, it's funny. Kids love it. Adults love it. They're like, 'Ha-ha, look! Brendan Fraser, the guy who was really buff in all those action movies, has gotten fat.' I don't know the number of pounds I gained because, in my real life, I don't step on scales. I don't believe them. I'm like, 'You're a liar.'"

He ain't heavy, he's my dog. "I have a Chihuahua who may be the fattest Chihuahua on the planet, which astonishes me because it's only got like two teeth left in its head to eat with. I don't know, maybe his legs are shrinking because his stomach keeps getting closer to the ground. He was my role model for the film."

Sounds like they both could use a trip to the gym. "I still need to get closer to the StairMaster to lose that paunch, but I wouldn't let the dog try it. I'm doing pretty good, though. Once you get there, it's not easy getting back. Even though I did it for comedy, that's not an excuse for the fact that I love to jam pizza down my throat just as much as the next guy. I'm gonna be 42 in December, and I can't just stop living."

About those pratfalls. "Sometimes I felt like I was doing one of those reality shows, like Survivor. The director would be like, 'OK, Brendan, today you're going to be hung upside down in a harness and special effects is going to dump a hundred pounds of goop on you while you're trapped in a port-a-potty.' Or worse yet, 'We want you to run a block in your tighty whiteys.' But, I soldiered on because I know slapstick has worked forever.'"