Halfway into its run, the 2022 Venice Film Festival has assembled a roster of movies that have become this year’s standouts and about which we will undoubtedly hear more in the months to come. The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser as a 600-pound father trying to mend fences with his estranged daughter, was one such film that was guaranteed to be a hit with audiences. The film premiered at the festival yesterday, and the audience had overwhelmingly positive reactions to his performance. Attendees at the Venice premiere claim that Fraser received a six-minute standing ovation when the film concluded. The actor thanked his fans in a video uploaded by Variety’s co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh.
Fraser, obviously touched and fighting back tears, takes an exaggerated bow and attempts to quit the auditorium, but is urged to stay by the continued thunder of applause. During the same panel, Fraser talked about the physical and mental toll of playing a 600-pound figure on set. He looked like Charlie thanks to CGI and prosthetics that added anything from fifty to three hundred pounds of weight, depending on the moment. Fraser said he “even felt a sensation of vertigo” and compared it to “walking from the pier into a boat” when the prostheses were taken off.
The Whale is Samuel D. Hunter’s directorial debut, adapted from his own play. Director Darren Aronofsky, who has previously tackled outlandish tales like “Black Swan,” “Noah,” and “mother!” takes on a more “regular” drama. Sadie Sink (Stranger Things), Hong Chau (Big Little Lies), Ty Simpkins (Insidious: The Last Key), and Samantha Morton (The Conjuring) all star in The Whale (The Walking Dead). As far as people are concerned, Fraser has made a “comeback” with The Whale. Not that he’s been hiding out from the cameras for the last several years; he featured in the DC Universe series Doom Patrol and the HBO Max thriller No Sudden Move, among other projects.
However, it has been quite some time since the actor starred as the main attraction. The positive response to The Whale almost guarantees that we’ll be hearing his name frequently come award season. On December 9th, cinemas all around the world will show the first screenings of The Whale. The movie’s trailer has not yet been published.