Director Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming drama, The Whale, will reintroduce beloved actor Brendan Fraser, which is something that Fraser himself really wanted to do. Speaking with Vanity Fair, Fraser discussed the prospect of playing such a different character in The Whale from what he and audiences are used to seeing, which made The Mummy star the perfect actor for the role.
The Whale will find Brendan Fraser playing a character far “outside of himself,” which is exactly why Aronofsky wanted him in the first place. The Whale will find Brendan Fraser leading the latest outing from Darren Aronofsky as Charlie, a 600-pound middle-aged man who tries to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter. The two have grown apart after Charlie abandoned his family for his gay lover, who later died, which led to Charlie binge-eating out of pain and guilt.
“He said he wanted an actor to reintroduce. And I wanted to be reintroduced. I wanted to know what I was capable of.”
Fraser will be transformed into Charlie thanks to a combination of elaborate and naturalistic prosthetics (an approach that has already been met with some criticism). The actor revealed details of his reaction to seeing Charlie’s prosthetic suit on a mannequin, saying that it “was that beautiful and that arresting” and felt that it belonged in London’s Tate Modern museum.
Charlie has been created by the Oscar-nominated Adrien Morot, who specializes in digital makeup effects and is a long-time collaborator of Darren Aronofsky. Efforts were made “to ensure an empathetic, realistic transformation,” which included working closely with the Obesity Action Coalition.
The actor called the costume “cumbersome, not exactly comfortable,” and was often carrying an extra 50 to 300 pounds during filming, with several people on hand to assist the actor in his movements.
“The torso piece was almost like a straight jacket, with sleeves that went on, airbrushed by hand, to look identical as would human skin, right down to the hand-punched hair,” Fraser revealed.
The Whale is a Major Part of the Brenaissance
A24
Written by Samuel D. Hunter and based on his play of the same name, The Whale stars Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, and Ty Simpkins alongside Brendan Fraser with Sadie Sink, who is best known for starring in Netflix’s Stranger Things and the Fear Street trilogy, starring as Ellie, Charlie’s daughter.
Speaking of reintroduction, The Whale is just one of several projects in the pipeline for Brendan Fraser and his re-emergence, dubbed the Brenaissance. The Mummy star is all set to star in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming western Killers of the Flower Moon alongside acting icons Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The movie details a period during which several members of the Osage tribe in the United States were murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major FBI investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover.
Fraser is also set to star alongside Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, and Glenn Close in the comedy Brothers, and lead the upcoming Behind the Curtain of Night. Sadly, Fraser’s villainous turn in Batgirl is now unlikely to ever be seen due to the movie’s surprise cancellation.
The Whale is due to debut at the Venice Film Festival on September 4, and will then be released in theaters on December 9, by A24.
