Brendan Fraser celebrated for comeback role in ‘The Whale’
Brendan Fraser is having a moment at the Venice International Film Festival.
The once ubiquitous movie star of “The Mummy” franchise and “George of the Jungle” had, in the last decade, backed away from the spotlight. But Fraser is charting what could be a major comeback starting with his transformative role in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” which had its world premiere Sunday night at the festival.
As the credits rolled in the Sala Grande theater, the audience gave the film a long standing ovation while Fraser, on the balcony alongside his director and co-stars, wiped tears away.
Fraser plays Charlie, a reclusive English teacher with a kind soul who weighs 600 pounds.
While the film already has pundits predicting Oscar nominations, Fraser is trying not to think about whether awards are in his future.
“I’m just trying to stay in today,” Fraser said before the premiere.
Aronofsky has been trying to make “The Whale” for about 10 years. He vividly remembers reading The New York Times review of Samuel D. Hunter’s play, going out to see it, and knowing he had to meet the writer.
One line in particular stuck out to him: “People are incapable of not caring.” It’s why, he said, he had to make the film. But casting presented a challenge. “To a lot of Sam Hunter’s pain, 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 considered everyone. Every single movie star on the planet. But none of it really clicked . ... It didn’t move me. It didn’t feel right.”
Then, a few years ago, he saw a trailer
for “a low-budget Brazilian movie” with Fraser and “a lightbulb went off,” he said.
Fraser, who also has a role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s next film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” said he doesn’t “know an actor in my peer group worth his weight in salt who wouldn’t want to work with Darren.”
Plus: “By far and away I think Charlie is the most heroic man I have ever played,” Fraser added. “His superpower is to see the good in others and bring that out of them.”
Venice is a regular stop for Aronofsky, who in 2008 won the Golden Lion for “The Wrestler” and also debuted “Black Swan” and “The Fountain” on the Lido. He said the festival is like home.