{"id":66108,"date":"2022-09-04T22:56:04","date_gmt":"2022-09-04T22:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/brendan-fraser-cries-as-the-whale-lands-huge-venice-standing-ovation\/"},"modified":"2022-09-04T22:56:04","modified_gmt":"2022-09-04T22:56:04","slug":"brendan-fraser-cries-as-the-whale-lands-huge-venice-standing-ovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/brendan-fraser-cries-as-the-whale-lands-huge-venice-standing-ovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Brendan Fraser Cries as ‘The Whale’ Lands Huge Venice Standing Ovation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If the Sunday night world premiere of \u201cThe Whale\u201d at the Venice Film Festival is any indication, Brendan Fraser’s return to Hollywood will be met with plenty of cheers \u2014 and even more tears. When the credits rolled on the Darren Aronofsky drama, in which Fraser plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair, the actor was overcome with emotion.<\/p>\n

Fraser sobbed throughout the six-minute standing ovation for the film, which will likely put him at the forefront of this year’s best actor Oscars race.<\/p>\n

Among those spotted inside the Sala Grande Theater were Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Nick Kroll and Hillary Clinton staffer Huma Abedin, who was seated a few rows behind Fraser and shed as many tears as he did. Many others inside the theater also broke out a handkerchief during the film’s heartbreaking final scenes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Whale\u201d stars Fraser as a man living with severe obesity who struggles to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter, played by \u201cStranger Things\u201d breakout Sadie Sink. The supporting cast also includes Hong Chau, Samantha Morton and Ty Simpkins. The movie is based on the play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter, who adapted the stage script into Aronofsky’s feature.<\/p>\n

To play the lead character in the film, Fraser wore a prosthetic suit that added anywhere from 50 to 300 pounds given the scene. The actor spent as much as six hours in the makeup chair each day to fully transform into the character. Fraser said in an interview ahead of the film’s Venice premiere that his prosthetic suit was \u201ccumbersome, not exactly comfortable,\u201d adding, \u201cThe torso piece was almost like a strait jacket with sleeves that went on, airbrushed by hand, to look identical as would human skin, right down to the hand-punched hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI developed muscles I did not know I had,\u201d Fraser told journalists at the Venice press conference about wearing the prosthetic suit. \u201cI even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed; it was like stepping off the dock onto a boat in Venice. that [sense of] undulating It gave me appreciation for those whose bodies are similar. You need to be an incredibly strong person, mentally and physically, to inhabit that physical being.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his review of \u201cThe Whale\u201d out of Venice, variety<\/em> film critic Owen Gleiberman called Fraser \u201cslyer, subtler, more haunting than he has ever been,\u201d adding that he gives an \u201cintensely lived-in and touching performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Whale\u201d marks another buzzy Venice premiere for Aronofsky, who has a rich history with the prestigious festival. While he stumbled at his first Venice with the premiere of \u201cThe Fountain,\u201d he bounced back in 2008 when \u201cThe Wrestler\u201d won the Golden Lion. \u201cBlack Swan\u201d was one of the big hits of the 2010 Venice Film Festival (and won Mila Kunis an emerging actor prize), while \u201cmother!\u201d was all anyone could talk about at the 2017 fest.<\/p>\n

Fraser became a marquee action star at the movies with 1997’s live-action remake of \u201cGeorge of the Jungle\u201d the 1999 box office franchise \u201cThe Mummy,\u201d but he relinquished his leading man status in the 2010s, as he took smaller roles (including a part on TV’s \u201cThe Affair\u201d). Although Fraser had a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh’s \u201cNo Sudden Movie\u201d last year, \u201cThe Whale\u201d marks a huge comeback for the actor in his first starring role in a film since 2013’s direct-to-DVD action movie \u201cBreakout.\u201d Also on Fraser’s upcoming docket: Martin Scorsese’s Apple western \u201cKillers of the Flower Moon.\u201d His turn as Garfield Lynns \/ Firefly in the up DC tentpole \u201cBatgirl\u201d will not be seen as Warner Bros. canceled the film’s release.<\/p>\n

A24 will release \u201cThe Whale\u201d in theaters Dec. 9.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n