More than 6 minutes of applause and ovations. This was the reception that the latest film by actor Brendan Fraser had at the Venice Film Festival.
All this thanks to his performance in “The Whale”, the latest film from director Darren Aronofsky, in which he transforms into a morbidly obese man and which premiered last Sunday in the Italian city.
“I’m just trying to hold on today (…) Thank you for this wonderful reception, I hope this film makes the same deep impression it did on me,” the American actor said visibly moved at the film’s presentation.
Experts say that, due to his performance in this film, he has become instantly one of the main Oscar contenders.
Fraser’s return isn’t just emotional and significant because of this. Also because it means a return after a long and painful absence.
Fraser, 53, was one of the most popular actors in the 1990s, with roles as “George of the Jungle” or the “The Mummy” trilogy.
But from that golden age they are part of their marks of abandonment and pain.
Precisely because of the stunts he did playing that clumsy Tarzan, he began to suffer serious injuries. Fraser refused to use doubles for scenes and, in the end, this landed him in the hospital and putting his career on hold.
In 2007 came another painful chapter. He divorced his wife, Afton Smith.
And everything was clouded, in turn, with the depression into which he fell after being sexually harassed. It was Fraser himself who publicly denounced this situation in 2018 and pointed to the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) Philip Berk
Now Fraser, with the inevitable changes that age brings, at 53 years old, walks the red carpet of one of the most important film festivals on the planet.
A father looking for his daughter
In his return before the cameras he plays Charlie, an English teacher weighing 250 kilos.
For the role, Fraser has had to work hard to achieve a disturbing look, thanks also to the prosthesis of a 300-pound tummy.
“The Whale” is based on the homonymous play by Samuel D. Hunter and tells the story of Charlie, an English teacher who, after the death of her boyfriend, begins to gobble up junk food in an attempt to anesthetize her pain.
In the midst of his despair, he looks for a horizon where soothe so much pain: rebuild the relationship with his daughter, whom he abandoned when he began a homosexual relationship.
Aronofsky read a review of the stage version ten years ago in the press, the story moved him “deeply” and that is why he proposed to its author to take it to the cinema, achieving his approval, although the pandemic delayed the project.
He chose Fraser after seeing him by chance at the low budget brazilian film trailer and in 2020 they began shooting a plot that takes place in a single location -the house- and has only five characters.
“I had to learn to move in a new way, I built muscles I didn’t know I had and I felt vertigo at the end of the day when they took off my prosthesis due to an undulating sensation like when you get off a gondola in Venice”, recalled the actor.
Despite the theme, “The Whale” has an optimistic outlook.
“Charlie is by far the most heroic man I’ve ever played,” said Fraser. “Her superpower is seeing the good in others and bringing that out of them.”
Aronofsky, who in 2008 reinvigorated Mickey Rourke’s career with “The Wrestler,” said this was “the most important message to spread to the world.”
“Everyone leans towards cynicism and darkness and loses hope, which is exactly what we don’t need right now. We have to lean on (the idea that) underneath it all, we really care about each other,” said the film’s director. (AND)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
