Brendan Fraser is headed back to the big screen in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. On Tuesday, the production company, A24, shared the first glimpse at Fraser, who accomplished a spectacular physical transformation to become a 600-pound man in the film. Starring along with Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink, Fraser plays a reclusive writing instructor who is seeking to reconnect with his teenage daughter.
Also starring Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, and Ty Simpkins, The Whale is expected to debut at the 2022 Venice Film Festival later this year. In an interview with Unilad last year, Fraser hinted at what viewers may expect from the film, calling it “something you haven’t seen before.”
“That’s really all I can tell you,” Fraser told the newspaper. “The wardrobe and costume was enormous, seamless, heavy.” “This is obviously far off from anything I’ve ever done but not to be coy — I do know it’s going to create a lasting impression,” he continued.
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Fraser’s appearance in the Aronofsky-directed thriller will mark The Mummy’s first leading actor’s role since 2013’s Breakout, though he did have a role in last year’s No Sudden Move, as well as recent TV parts on shows like Doom Patrol, The Affair and Trust. Aside from that, he’s going to be in the next Batgirl movie as the bad guy, and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, in which he’ll be appearing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.
Fraser’s comeback to the big screen has been an emotional one. It wasn’t long ago that the actor, 53, was overcome with emotion when he met with a fan on TikTok to talk about his upcoming return. “I think I might be sick,” Fraser joked in the videotaped in Oklahoma, where he was supposed to shoot the Scorsese-directed project. “A little worried. I mean, it’s going to be fun…”
That’s when the fan stepped in and told Fraser, “You got this. Just know that the internet is so behind you!” “We’re so supportive,” she added. “There are so many people out there who love you, and we’re rooting for you, and we can’t wait to see what you do next.” Fraser broke down and apologized to the fan, saying, “Shucks, ma’am.”
As recently as 2018, Fraser revealed the reason for his departure from the entertainment industry. The actor said in a GQ feature that former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk molested him at a dinner in 2003.
Fraser asserted that the alleged assault occurred at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, just as he was ready to shake Berk’s hand and say goodbye — an allegation that Berk has rejected. Fraser claimed that at that moment, Berk’s left hand “reaches around and grabs my a** cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around.”
“I felt ill,” he said. “I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry.”
For fear of “humiliation” and his story becoming his “narrative,” Fraser chose not to make the claims public at the time. His other claim was that he was rarely invited to the Golden Globes after 2003, a claim that was flatly refuted by Berk.
“[It] made me retreat. It made me feel reclusive,” Fraser said. “I don’t know if this curried disfavor with the group, with the HFPA. But the silence was deafening.”
“I was blaming myself and I was miserable,” he added. “Because I was saying, ‘This is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel.’ That summer wore on — and I can’t remember what I went on to work on next.” Stay tuned with us only on Lee Daily
