“Sorry I’m a few minutes late, just trying to find my lap dog,” apologized Brendan Fraser from his home in upstate New York. “Isn’t it funny in this day and age of Zoom, we can’t pretend we’re not home anymore,” he laughs.
It must be great for the actor to be home after countless days away from events and international premieres for his critically acclaimed role in Darren Aronofsky’s The whale. In it Fraser plays Charlie, a £600 writing professor who tries to reconcile with his estranged daughter before it’s too late. It’s an awards ceremony that not only allows Fraser to graciously accept the awards, but also to reflect on the experience of making this film during the worst of the pandemic.
“I’m happy to be a part of it all, but this is more than just a tour,” says Fraser. “My teammates and I gave everything we had because it was a film being shot in Covid and we didn’t know if there was going to be a tomorrow. In my opinion, in a few years we will look back at the films that were made [during the pandemic] and we’re going to see some kind of secret ingredient for everyone. Everyone lived under an existential threat and a genuine concern for each other’s well-being, and these performances will show that.”
For The whaleFraser spent much of his 1990s and early 2000s regularly appearing in physical comedies such as Encino man And George from the jungle before taking on the role of beloved hero Rick O’Connell The Mummy Series. Although he received critical acclaim in 1998 for Bill Condon’s gods and monsters, Hollywood tended to discourage Fraser from accepting lighter fare and underestimated his abilities. Fraser has worked regularly over the past decade, appearing in ensemble TV series such as The affair And Doom Patrolbut nothing has generated the same kind of buzz as its blockbuster past.
Director Darren Aronofsky then surprised Fraser by contacting him about the role of Charlie, an adaptation of the Samuel D. Hunter play. The whale. “There was word on the street that Darren was doing a movie and wanted to meet you,” recalls Fraser. “My answer… yes. I’m a little surprised he even knows who I am, and I arrive at his office with no small amount of creative intimidation on my part.
“I was excited to see that he is a gentleman who starts conversations in the middle,” says Fraser. “He gets straight to the point, he told me it’s about a man who lives alone, who is incredibly sad since his partner died and regrets decisions that took him to the other side of custody of his child has.
“It was very exciting because it was an opportunity to play a character who is looking for redemption. He then told me that Charlie’s body weighs hundreds and hundreds of pounds, with a medical condition that will die very soon of congestive heart failure.”
The dramatic combination would be a huge uphill battle for any actor, but Fraser was more than happy and grateful to be considered for the opportunity. “Darren was very open about finding an actor who could physically create the role from the outside, but also deliver a performance with emotional depth,” says Fraser. “He actually showed me his chessboard how he was going to do it and I immediately wanted to get right next to him and help him figure out how to put all the pieces together.”
“Then March 2020 rolled around and we all know what happened,” recalls Fraser. “We went home to change into our comfortable pants.”
Fraser assumed the project was over. Months later, plans began to provide the film with elaborate security protocols. But there was a problem that made him suitable for a virtual suit.
“Instead of going through a normal makeup process to make a mold of my face, Adrien Morot [prosthetic makeup designer] could only work virtually with a 3D scan,” says Fraser. “Jeremy did it in my driveway [Dawson, producer]who showed up with an iPad, but my dog kept bumping my ankles. However, the result is seamless, down to the micro-size of Charlie’s pores.”
“When we finally got together to make the film, I had my first make-up test with the suit and Darren looked over my shoulder and said, ‘For the rest of your life. I knew then that if I was going to pass that test, I had to own it, so from that moment I learned to pass as Charlie in this five-point, weight-adjustable harness and cat suit with pipes running cold water. also worked with our movement coach Beth Lewis and we worked on focal points, inertia of standing and the support conditions that obese people should have and it was my job to sell it because we had never seen a costume and had makeup done with it kind of dignity and respect.
Looking back at Fraser’s most popular performances, his fearless physicality played a big part in the characters he played. That list now includes Charlie. “I’ve always tried to find a physical purpose in everything I do. If it’s an action movie, I think it’s best to act out the next scene, not the one you’re in. In other words, if I’m in a movie where the end goal is to get to the car, the scenes I’m in before lead to that end goal. So, for Charlie, I have to go down the hall to the bathroom, not to use it, but not to let my daughter see me cry.
While Charlie’s physical appearance had to be perfected for the screen, Fraser had to figure out how to give a respectful portrayal that honored this character. “Charlie has a secret superpower,” says Fraser. “He is able to bring out the good in others, even when they cannot see it in themselves or when they feel that they are beyond repair. He appreciates beauty in the humanities and is a mix of people I’ve known; Teachers I had, drama teachers I worked with, friends I made and lost.
Playing Charlie also allowed Fraser to work with the Obesity Action Coalition to understand the daily struggles obese people face. “Obesity is a condition and a human disease that deserves our compassion, help and respect. Because how they present themselves to the world means they can’t get proper health care. They are ignored and belittled in society and ridiculed in the media. You can really damage someone’s physical health by talking to them. I know many people living with obesity have said that something they were told when they were children started a cycle in their lives. In fact, a woman wrote to Darren last week that she is terrified to undergo bariatric surgery and will now do so after seeing the film. It will save her life. That was the hope we went in with to change some hearts and minds in an unsolicited, uncynical, cathartic way.”
Fraser also admits that he could not have played the role of Charlie earlier in his career. “I didn’t have the life experience or the sadness. Ten years ago I wasn’t a father long enough to realize what it means to have a young person in your life.”
But the memory of Charlie is still a part of Fraser. “When this movie ended, I had an unexpected reaction the last time I collected Charlie’s body; I was really moved emotionally. I felt a strange survival guilt about being able to pull it off at the end of the day, and I met people who lived that way until they didn’t,” Fraser recalls. “I had to take a page from my own sermon and consider whether I was guilty or humiliating and missed it. Even if I did it by accident, I never want to do it again in the future.
As The whale The video of an emotional Fraser receiving a six-minute standing ovation, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, went viral and instantly propelled him to the front of the awards show. But as an actor with more than 30 years of experience under his belt, his reaction to it all was extremely humble. “I approached this film as if I would never be asked to do it again,” says Fraser. “I made myself vulnerable to everyone, and I find it liberating because I have nothing to hide or prove. I have nothing but respect for anyone who sees it, even those who artistically disagree with the material.”
Source: Deadline
Ashley Root is an author and celebrity journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for all things celebrity, Ashley is always up-to-date on the latest gossip and trends in the world of entertainment.
