Brendan Fraser, an actor who was missing from the big screen, returned to the cinema in a role completely different from those he played in his “glory years”. In The whale (The Whale), a film by the production company A24 that premiered in Brazil last Thursday (23), the artist plays a morbidly obese teacher who tries to reconnect with his family and friends. His performance, full of emotion and drama, was highly praised by critics and spectators and even earned him an Oscar 2023 nomination in the Best Actor category.
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However, not everyone liked the feature film and the way Fraser portrayed the challenges that an obese person faces. For critics, the actor of The Mummy (1999) responded to the “bad” comments positively and kindly. He said that he understands the contrary points, but that he is happy with the result of The whaleafter all, and the impacts that the film caused.
Brendan Fraser defended his role in The Whale, which tells the story of an obese man who needs to reconnect with his family.Source: A24
“I respect those who don’t agree with everything the film brings. I don’t agree with them [críticos] because I know there were no bad intentions. I know I want to know if I – I, Brendan – did any damage. But the answer I got from OAC [Obesity Action Coalition] was ‘keep doing what you’re doing’. We made the movie we wanted to make, and we did it right. And I stand for that,” Fraser said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
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The whale raised eyebrows even before its official debut, already surrounding itself with some controversies, given its more sensitive subject, which could be misunderstood by many. Like Fraser, the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky, also had to defend the production several times, saying that it aimed at an empathetic approach to the main character of the narrative, creating a respectful representation of obese people (when compared to other films). Fraser even criticized the mainstream media for the ways they refer to people in these conditions, nicknamed them or describing them in the wrong way.
In addition to Brendan Fraser, The Whale it has in its main cast Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton and Sathya Sridharan.
