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THE (SECOND) RENAISSANCE MAN

Seemingly a forgotten man in Hollywood, Brendan Fraser is back in the spotlight thanks to his much talked about performance in The Whale. Ahead of its New Zealand release, James Croot joined in a Zoom session with the former 90s and noughties star and his

Brendan Fraser’s passion for his latest project becomes visibly and audibly clear within minutes of our Zoom interview. The 54-year-old actor and his far younger co-star Sadie Sink have joined myself and a handful of other journalists from across Europe for a quick chat about his transformative and much talked about performance as reclusive English teacher Charlie in The Whale (which, after previews in select Kiwi cinemas this weekend, opens nationwide on Thursday). However, an early question has him bristling. In asking a predictable query about what drew him to the part, a Belgian journalist comments on the morbidly obese Charlie’s “huge, monstrous body” and the character being “too fat…of course”.

“What is he too fat for?” Fraser challenges. “This film and the point of it in the very title is to name the preconceived notions and prejudices that we bring to people who live with obesity.

The title is not a pejorative joke. It’s a literary reference to Herman Melville’s novel [ Moby Dick].

“His body may not conform to the same BMI [Body Mass Index] that the rest of the world’s does, but I promise you, there are people that live [ like he does]…in a shuttered two-bedroom apartment somewhere in anywhere Idaho.”

Lecturing our now sheepish man from Brussels about the challenges of limited mobility and awkward relationships that cast family members and healthcare workers as potential enablers to those suffering from eating disorders and addictions, Fraser then stresses that, to him, Charlie is “not merely the corporeal presentation of how he appears”.

“He’s a man who has led a full life, who fell helplessly in love – in the most inconvenient way. He made choices that caused damaging effects to his family structure. He neglected his daughter (played by Sink) in a very hurtful way. He’s an educator who believes in bringing out honesty in people – if they can be brave enough to do so – and, on top of that, he’s a man who feels things no differently from anyone else, whatever amount of weight you carry on the body.

“Knowing that, I felt a sense of obligation in playing this role to really put aside what we could create in makeup and costume – as authentic and realistic as it is – to challenge people’s perceived notions – whether they may consider him a monster, or overlooked.”

Rather than the traditional “fat suit” Fraser wore digitally-created prosthetic makeup that took four hours to apply and five people to get him in and out of. However the film-makers have been criticised for not using a bigger actor to play the role.

“So long as fat people are being represented by half a puppet, you’re never going to be able to see that character as wholly human,” actor and comedian Guy Branum told the New Yorker in response to the film’s casting.

Fraser says he worked closely with US-based online support group Obesity Action Coalition in preparing for the role. “They were our partner and they gave me a great deal of insight. I [really did] feel a strong sense of moral obligation to present this character with dignity.”

Watching Fraser’s towering performance in this immersive, very cinematic adaptation of Samuel D Hunter’s 2012 play, it’s hard to believe this was once the actor best-known for playing B-Grade Indiana Jones Rick O’Connell in The Mummy trilogy and airhead roles in 90s comedies such as George of the Jungle, California Man and, um, Airheads. But then you remember his terrific performances in award-winning dramatic fare such as Gods and Monsters, The Quiet American and Crash and lament how he’s been essentially missing from cinema screens for more than a decade (the less said about 2010’s double whammy of Extraordinary Measures and Furry Vengeance the better).

But rather than a comeback or return, Fraser sees The Whale as hopefully sparking a “second renaissance” for him.

“I knew that this was not a character who has not been represented in a film in this authentic way [before] – whether by me or another actor my age – and I know it will be attending-grabbing. [That it gives me the opportunity to be] knocking on the door and saying ‘hi, I was never that far away’ is not lost on me.”

And, even once he secured the part and was on set, he says he was reminded of the advice his Gods and Monsters’ co-star Sir Ian McKellen once gave him: “You have to do this like it’s the first time – and also like it’s the last thing you’ll ever do.”

Even The Whale’s director Darren Aronofsky admits the actor had “gotten a

“This film and the point of it in the very title is to name the preconceived notions and prejudices that we bring to people who live with obesity.”

little forgotten – even by me”. Talking on a separate Zoom call, Aronofsky, whose credits include Requiem for a Dream and Mother!, says he had spent a decade looking for someone to play the role of Charlie, ever since he first saw Hunter’s play off-Broadway and knew he had to make a film version.

“[I wanted] someone who would get me up in the morning and get me excited about them playing a role. I thought about many, many actors, many movie stars. But when I saw Brendan – I really believed ‘once a movie star, always a movie star’. There is something inside of Brendan that is just incredibly relatable.

“It’s hard to explain why an actor is great. It’s not like they feel anything more than any of us in this room, but someone like Brendan can just do a little thing with his eyes and I know that every single person on the planet will understand that. It’s just something about their faces that are a little more elastic, or something coming out that the camera can capture and broadcast it.

“Theatre acting is a whole different thing because they have to project. [With cinema] Because the camera is blowing it up to 18 feet, it’s those people who basically have bad poker faces [who excel]. Everyone can read what they’re feeling.”

For Hunter, who, as the story’s originator, was surprised to be given the “rare opportunity” to be on set everyday and collaborate in bringing his tale to new life with both Aronofsky and Fraser, it was the actor’s generosity as a human being that struck him.

“He was just so unspeakably kind and such an easy collaborator – because he worked so hard. I think that generosity spread throughout the entire production process. It was just a really beautiful time in the middle of a pandemic. A real act of courage and faith [by everyone] to come to this warehouse [Umbra Studios in Newburg] in the middle of winter in New York – before vaccines – to tell this story.”

Having experienced both Fraser’s heartrending turn when the film made its North American premiere at September’s Toronto International Film Festival and his emotive defence and championing of it in our group discussion, it’s easy to see those qualities that persuaded Aronofsky that the Indiana-born actor was his Charlie.

As that character would love, regardless of what happens during the upcoming awards season, it’s “the best thing he’s ever done”. And, as Fraser sees it, an important, hopefully influential movie.

“Weight bias is a real concern in our society and our hope is that we can change some hearts and minds about how we feel about those who live with this disease. This is a piece that extols empathy and challenges its audience to question the very morals they hold. I can guarantee you viewers who arrive at the end of the film will feel a lot different about who he [Charlie] is from when they walked in the door.”

Te Uiui / The Interview

en-nz

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282703346228628

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