It's flattering enough for any working actor in Hollywood to be sent a script to read, much less one written with the performer in mind.

But for "The Mummy" trilogy star Brendan Fraser, the feeling of having the book "Inkheart's" main character inspired by his adventure movie portrayals -- and a book, on top of it, that went on to become an international best seller -- springs forth an emotion that almost goes beyond words.

"It's a realm of flattery that I never knew could exist," Fraser said in a recent @ The Movies interview. "And to that I can only respond with a 'thank you' to the author."

Fraser admits that he wasn't aware of author Cornelia Funke's work before "Inkheart," which is why he first cracked open the book with a bit of trepidation. But that feeling soon passed.

"At first when I received the novel and it had been inscribed -- 'Dear Brendan: Thank for inspiring this character. I hope that you can read this book aloud to your kids one day, too. Sincerely, Cornelia Funke' -- I thought, 'How close is it to April? Somebody must be pulling my leg,'" Fraser recalled with a chuckle. "Then I thought, 'Stalker! What's going on here?' But nope. She's the real McCoy."

Opening in theaters Friday, "Inkheart" stars Fraser as Mortimer "Mo" Folchart, who along with his 12-year-old daughter, Meggie (Eliza Hope Bennett), shares a passion for books. But there's a little bit more to reading novels than meets the eye for Mo and Meggie: Both have the extraordinary gift of bringing books' characters to life when they read aloud. The downside is when one character appears from the literary world, another disappears into the book's pages.

But it's on a trip to a secondhand bookstore where Mo and Meggie's dive headlong into the biggest chapter of their lives with the discovery of the novel "Inkheart" -- a book that Mo has been looking for for years -- a book that enveloped his daughter's mother, Resa (Sienna Guillory), when Meggie was a 3-year-old.

But the trip into the pages of "Inkheart" isn't going to be easy. The novel is filled with medieval castles and strange creatures; plus Mo's plans to rescue Resa when Capricorn (Andy Serkis) kidnaps Meggie to use the girl's gift to unleash the villainous Shadow.

Doing "Inkheart" was not only a thrill for Fraser because of its personal meaning, but because the novel represents to him two causes near and dear to his heart: family and the importance of reading.

"The book is an advocate of literacy without wagging its finger at people to get out there and read -- to pick up a book and walk away from the gaming console," Fraser said. "It's a darn good story and at its heart it's about a family reunion and the journey toward it. People can identify with it for many different reasons. Plus the movie is great fun along the way."

The benefit of seeing "Inkheart" as a movie, of course, is that you get to see Funke's vision fully realized as a living, breathing story that co-stars the likes of Helen Mirren and Paul Bettany, which boasts an impressive cache of special effects. And while Frasier is no stranger to filming effects-filled fantasy adventures, "Inkheart" is still the sort of movie that he can get caught up in just like any other moviegoer.

"Sure, I was there when we shot it, but that doesn't mean that you see the result of it. It's really important to watch the work that you do because you learn by it really quickly," Fraser said. "You learn about things like composition, silhouettes, why you block things, screen direction, etcetera. I love to go to movies. I love to go to good movies. When I go to the movies, I want to be taken somewhere, be entertained and really escape."

There is, however, one thing that Fraser admits about his movies that he can't wrap his head around, so to speak.

"I just can't watch myself," Fraser said, laughing. "I look and say, 'Why didn't anyone tell me that there's a bucket on my shoulders?' My head looks like a football helmet with my face painted on it."

Spoken Words

Of course, the movie "Inkheart" has a unique angle in that it's not so much about what readers imagine in their mind's eye that brings the characters to life, but that the characters appear out of what is read aloud. Fraser believes that theme powerfully resonates not only in the film, but in real life.

"This book, this story has many themes, and one of them is that the spoken work has great power," Fraser stressed. "In our daily lives we know that the spoken word, properly articulated and pre-visualized, is a powerful thing. 'Inkheart' underscores that."

Frasier said that perhaps the best example of the power of the spoken word and how it relates to our modern times is the resonance of the words of newly-elected President Barack Obama. And Fraser doesn't pull any punches when citing the polar opposite.

"It doesn't matter what anybody's political affiliations are, there's a definite difference between the power of the spoken word from someone who's an orator -- and someone who we've been listening to or not listening to, because we have not quite been able to understand if he's strung together sentences properly," Fraser said. "You just shut it out."