Brendan Fraser Celebrates Comeback Role in Oscar’s Favorite Whale

As the credits rolled at the Sala Grande Theater, the audience gave the film a standing ovation, and Fraser wiped away tears from the balcony with his director and co-stars. Fraser plays Charlie, a reclusive English teacher with a kind soul who weighs 600 pounds (270 kilograms). While the film already has experts predicting an Oscar nomination, Fraser tries not to think about whether the award is in his future.

“I just want to stay today,” Fraser said ahead of the premiere. Aronofsky has been trying to make The Whale for about 10 years. He vividly remembers reading the New York Times review of the Samuel D. Hunter play, going out to see it, and knowing he had to meet the writer.

He highlighted a phrase in particular: “People can’t help but care.” That’s why he had to make the film, he said.

But casting presented challenges.

“It was painful for Sam Hunt that it took me 10 years to make this movie, and that’s because it took me 10 years to cast,” Aronofsky said. “Casting Charlie was a huge challenge. I thought about everyone. Every movie star on the planet. But none of them really clicked. …It didn’t move me. It didn’t feel right.”

Then, a few years ago, he saw the trailer for Fraser’s “a low-budget Brazilian film,” and “a light bulb went off,” he said.

FraserIn Martin Scorsese’s next film, Killers of the Flower Moon, he also starred in a role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, saying he “did not know that in my There’s an actor who doesn’t want to work with Darren.”

Also: “I think Charlie is by far the most heroic guy I’ve ever played,” Fraser added. “His superpower is seeing the good in others and taking it out of them.”

Prosthetics were used to turn Frazier into Charlie who rarely leaves the couch.

“I needed to learn to act in a completely new way. I developed muscles I didn’t know existed. At the end of the day, when all the electrical appliances were removed, I even felt dizzy, like disembarking in Venice.” Razer said. “It makes me appreciate people who are physically similar. … I learned that you need to be a very strong person, both physically and mentally, to fit into that body.”

Aside from his body, Charlie is also a character who has deep empathy and love for everyone around him, including his estranged daughter Ellie, made by Stranger Things Star Sadie Zink.

“She had a lot to say, so she was enthusiastic. But I don’t think what she expected was someone who cared so much about her,” Zink said. “It’s good for someone like Charlie to see someone like Ellie, and it’s going to put her in a bind.”

Hunter, who also wrote the script, said his script was personal. He started it 12 years ago when he taught a mandatory expository writing class at Rutgers, and no one wanted to take it, and everyone complained about it. He also pulled away from his background, setting the show in his hometown of Moscow, Idaho, and weaving his history of depression, self-medicating with food, and entering fundamentalist religion as a gay teenager high school.

“I was afraid to write it,” he said. “I think the only way I can do that is to write from a place of love and empathy. … I want (Charlie) to be a beacon in the dark, the sea of ​​darkness.”

Whales are Aronofsky’s favorite challenge—because it has so many constraints. He learned long ago in 1998’s Pi that borders are “gateways to freedom”. In that movie, he only had twenty thousand dollars and a dream. in mom! He was confined to a house. And, in The Whale, it’s not just an apartment, it’s a character who doesn’t move much.

His friendship with cinematographer Matthew Libatique dates back to his days at the American Film Institute in 1990, and they spent a lot of time talking about “how to turn theater into film” and “how to make film compelling and exciting.” In the rough cut, Aronofsky said he was relieved to find it didn’t feel claustrophobic.

Fraser added that the film was “a movie. A proper movie theater.”

Venice is a regular for Aronofsky, who won the Golden Lion in 2008 for “The Wrestler” and also made his debuts in “Black Swan” and “The Lido Fountain.” He said festivals are like home.

This year, Aronofsky and his cast may also be leaving with a trophy. The whale is part of the festival’s official competition, which will be decided on September 10 by a jury led by Julianne Moore. A24 is scheduled to open in theaters on December 9. But he’s excited to be back from his first film since Mother in 2017!

“Many of us have lost a lot over the past few years. … The film is about relationships. It’s about having the opportunity to put on someone else’s shoes and have two hours of empathy in someone else’s mind. I think that Just what the world needs. I’m excited to be back,” Aronofsky said. “It’s a big moment for me, and I think it’s a big moment for the film as well.”