Brendan Fraser Rise From the Ashes with Best Actor Oscar Nomination for ‘The Whale’

For the lead role The whalea role that earned him a nomination for the Best Actor category at the Oscars, Brendan Fraser was best remembered for starring in the trilogy of The mummywho had deliveries in 1999, 2001 and 2007, and in George de la selva, in addition to acting in Looney Tunes: back in action and the first delivery of Journey to the Center of the Earth.

The 54-year-old actor was a central figure in Hollywood until the mid-2000s, though he went from acting alongside the likes of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and leading roles to go largely unnoticed in the industry.

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His near-disappearance from the movie world was explained by Fraser himself in an interview with the magazine GQ. Although the trilogy The mummy It brought him big returns, it also caused him problems with his body due to the physical demands of the stunts he had to perform.

the actor of Crash he spent nearly a decade in and out of the hospital. He underwent a few surgeries: For example, he underwent a laminectomy on his back, surgery to treat arthritis in the spine, and a partial knee replacement. He even had to have his vocal cords repaired surgically.

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The dissolution of his marriage to actress and writer Afton Smith also affected him. Fraser met Smith in 1993 at a gathering hosted by famed actress Winona Ryder. They married in 1998 and had three children: Griffin, Holden and Leland. They ended their marriage in 2009 and Fraser was required to pay alimony, an amount he tried to reduce in 2013, as he no longer had the financial means to pay what had been agreed due to lack of work.

Perhaps the most determining factor in the decline of Fraser’s acting career was the alleged sexual abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of Phillip Berk, then president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization responsible for the Golden Globe Awards.

The actor confessed to the magazine in 2018 GQ that Berk touched him inappropriately without his consent in 2003 after an event at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, United States. According to Fraser, Berk would have touched her buttocks and perineum, causing her to panic.

“I felt sick. Like a little boy. I felt like I had a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry,” the Jungle George star told the American magazine. He never told because he didn’t want to “face” how it made him feel, or for it to become “part of his story.”

They soon stopped inviting him to the Golden Globes and the vacancies dried up. He had supporting roles in movies and TV series, but The whalea movie that hit US theaters in December 2022 was his first starring role since then break outmovie released in 2013.

The whale marked his triumphant return. In the film, he plays Charlie, an online English teacher who is housebound because he weighs 600 pounds and the most basic body movements are difficult for him. Throughout the film, he tries to reconnect with his teenage daughter Ellie, whom he abandoned to start a homosexual relationship.

Fraser’s performance is touchingly honest. Honesty is a concept that Charlie seems obsessed with; At one point in the film, he asks his students to forget conventional ways of writing and communicate something honest, which comes from their guts.

It is because of this obsession with honesty that Charlie proves to truly love his daughter, despite her constant verbal and physical abuse of him. He sees Ellie for what she is: a product of her circumstances, largely caused by him.

The whale It could easily have fallen into the trap of being a story designed to fetishize the misery of obese people, or fall into offensive clichés about the condition, but Fraser’s heartfelt performance allows Charlie’s character to transcend his condition.

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The protagonist of The whale he is human, despite all the shame and guilt he feels about his appearance and the mistakes he has made in his life. None of this would be possible without Fraser, who lends credence to one of Charlie’s most important characteristics, his belief in people. The impression left by the interpretation of the former movie star blockbusters it’s that he shares his character’s faith in humanity.

The end of the film brings tears to the eyes, which is exactly what happened to viewers at every film festival in which director Darren Aronofsky’s film participated. Fraser received a standing ovation of more than six minutes at the Venice International Film Festival and the London Film Festival.

Now Fraser is one of the favorites to win the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The whale. The other nominees are Austin Butler, for his role in Elvisand Colin Farrell the spirits of the island.