Brendan Fraser’s painstaking transformation into The Whale. The characterization lasted six hours

The faux leather costume is 3D printed. It was filled with pouches of “gel peas and water” to realistically show body movements. The team of makeup artists led by prosthetic designer Adrien Morot managed to achieve the desired goal – looking as natural as possible, but it was a huge challenge for everyone. At first, the team met only on Zoom, so Fraser, for example, had to take pictures of himself with a ruler put to his forehead, so that prosthetics could be sure that they would have the right dimensions.

“Whale”. This was Brendan Fraser’s transformation

The problems started already at the design stage – due to the pandemic, it was impossible to meet the actor to make casts of his body and face, as is usually done in such cases. Difficult times required a creative approach. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of Morot’s friends met Fraser and scanned his body with an iPad in his driveway in the middle of winter. These measurements were then sent to the professionals, who used them to design a costume that would cover the actor’s body from head to toe.

The finished costume weighed about 130 kg. “One arm weighs about 11.3 kg, legs are similar in structure, but each weighs about 19 kg. I think what we did helped him find his hero in himself. And realize how strong people are who are struggling I deal with these things every day,” Morot told The Hollywood Reporter. The make-up video was shown by the ew.com portal:

Brendon Fraser’s transformation into Charlie – including costume and make-up – took six hours a day. As filming progressed, the process was reduced to just four hours. Morot also did not hide in an interview with , that the preparation of this make-up was the biggest challenge in his career. “This movie is about Charlie and his relationship with his daughter. That’s what it’s really about. Make-up must not distract from that, no matter what the character looks like on screen. So how do you create a character like Charlie and not make him look cartoonish? “It was about finding the right balance so that the viewer would think, ‘Oh my God, it’s Brendan Fraser.’

The film took 45 days to shoot, and as Morot laughs, it was “45 days of torturing poor Brendan.” Because every day, make-up artists glued every single hair on the hero’s face in such a way that they looked like naturally growing facial hair. In addition, the team also had different sets of prosthetic limbs that differed in skin color, which was supposed to show the deteriorating health of the hero.

“These parts of the costume were worn like gloves and mid-thigh boots. It felt like a harness,” Fraser himself recalled in an interview with “V”. To prevent the actor from suffering heatstroke, the suit was layered – Morot included a cooling layer that is very similar to the cooling suits worn by rally drivers.

“Whale”. The triumphant return of Brendon Fraser

is Brendan Fraser’s spectacular return to the Hollywood top – for the last few years the actor has kept himself rather on the sidelines and struggled with personal problems. The main role in Darren Aronofsky’s new film brought him numerous nominations for prestigious awards, including an Oscar. Let’s not forget that thanks to his performance, “The Whale” received a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.

“Charlie has been living on the margins of the world for years. Imprisoned in a small apartment due to morbid obesity. Rejected, not without reason, by his relatives, he is heading alone into the abyss of life. However, one impulse, one meeting is enough to ignite a flame of hope in him All is not lost yet. Charlie tries to reconnect with his teenage daughter. He knows that an incredibly difficult encounter awaits him. He realizes that he risks losing his last illusion. But he is willing to take this risk, believing that also for There is still a chance for redemption for him.”