Darren Aronofsky Defends Casting Brendan Fraser in ‘The Whale’

Brendan Fraser is already incomes Oscar buzz for his efficiency in The Whale, however his casting as a 600-pound homosexual man has additionally been met with some backlash.

The movie’s director, Darren Aronofsky, responded to the criticism in a brand new interview with Selection printed on Wednesday, October 12, claiming that he and producers at one level tried to discover a bigger actor to play the function.

“There was a chapter within the making of this movie the place we tried to analysis actors with weight problems,” the Black Swan filmmaker, 53, stated. “Outdoors of not having the ability to discover an actor who might pull off the feelings of the function, it simply turns into a loopy chase. Like, should you can’t discover a 600-pound actor, is a 300-pound actor or 400-pound actor sufficient?”

The Requiem for a Dream director added that he didn’t assume an actor with weight problems might deal with the calls for of a movie manufacturing schedule. “From a well being perspective, it’s prohibitive,” he instructed the outlet. “It’s an inconceivable function to fill with an actual individual coping with these points.”

Throughout filming, Fraser, 53, wore prosthetics that added an additional 50 to 300 kilos to his weight, relying on the scene. Earlier this 12 months, the George of the Jungle star stated that he labored with the Weight problems Motion Coalition to be taught extra in regards to the situation.

“I realized shortly that it takes an extremely sturdy individual inside that physique to be that individual,” the Affair alum instructed Vainness Honest in August. “That appeared becoming and poetic and sensible to me, .”

Regardless of the controversy surrounding The Whale, Fraser’s efficiency has already earned tons of acclaim. After the film’s premiere on the Venice Worldwide Movie Pageant in September, the Mummy star earned a six-minute standing ovation.

Audiences on the BFI London Movie Pageant had been equally impressed, giving the actor a five-minute ovation after a Tuesday, October 11, screening. The Inkheart star broke down in tears throughout the applause, bowing to the viewers.

The Indiana native famously disappeared from the highlight after The Mummy helped make him an motion star, however his followers imagine The Whale is the start of his comeback. The Display Actors Guild Award winner can be set to seem in subsequent 12 months’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese‘s much-hyped adaptation of the nonfiction e-book of the identical title.

The Scrubs alum instructed Selection that he’s completely satisfied to be in demand once more, although he nonetheless worries his comeback could not final. “I used to be by no means that far-off,” he defined. “You possibly can’t eliminate me that simple. However I’m glad to have a job. I’m nonetheless anticipating someone to stroll over to me, hand me a dish towel and say, ‘Fraser, get again within the kitchen.’”