The Whale

Darren Aronofsky's "The Whale" premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on Sunday and received a six-minute standing ovation.

If that rapturous applause carries on throughout awards season, that may prove the most wonderful and moving moment of this whale’s journey.” I’ve been a fan of Darren’s ever since I saw ‘Requiem for a Dream’ when I was a college freshman writing my first plays, and I’m so grateful that he’s bringing his singular talent and vision to this film.” “This story is deeply personal, and I’m very thankful it will have the chance to reach a wider audience. In a pair of videos posted to Twitter by Ramin Setoodeh (co-editor in chief of Variety), the cast and top creative team behind the upcoming tearjerker can be seen reacting to a six-minute standing ovation after the film’s premiere on Sunday. Hunter’s play of the same name, “The Whale” stars Fraser as Charlie, a 600-pound gay man who is confined to a wheelchair. Rooting for all your success brother and congrats to my bud Darren Aronofsky.”

Brains are complex and delicate organs—and whale brains especially so. Few whales are in good condition when they beach. Fewer still are reached in time to ...

For many whales and dolphins, the challenges of life are impossible outside of a social group. In the words of one neuroscientist: “we don’t even understand the brain of a worm.” Perhaps that is simply a hazard that comes with poking around in the most complicated, gloopy mush in the universe. In both whales and humans, the neocortex appears to have special “integrative centers” that process and integrate the information coming in from the sensory and motor areas. In humans, the parts of the brain that relate to high-level cognitive functions, such as attention, intuition, and social awareness, are larger than in most other mammals. The VENs seemed to be found only in certain areas of the human brain: the frontal insula and cingulate cortex. Ours are similar in proportion to our body mass, as are the brains of some rodents; mice and men both invest a lot of themselves in their thinking organs. Trying to infer from brains and their structures which animals are “better” at cognition and ranking animal brains in order of “intelligence” is as treacherous as it is tempting. But there are other measurements in the cortex that seem to be associated with intelligence, and here, dolphins and whales lag behind humans. In humans, the cerebral cortex, acting with other bits of the brain (the basal ganglia, basal forebrain, and dorsal thalamus), appears to be the seat of this form of “intelligence.” The more cortex you have and the more wrinkled it is, the more surface area available for making connections—and voila! It’s perhaps not a fair comparison: in relation to the size of our bodies, our brains are bigger than those of whales. He cut a neat panel in the skull, like a burglar piercing the glass of a museum window, and teased the porridge-colored organ through the gap and into a jar of preservative fluid. To obtain a whale brain for examination, the stars have to align: the whale must be freshly dead, and a good anatomist must cut its head off and refrigerate it quickly.

If the Sunday night world premiere of “The Whale” at the Venice Film Festival is any indication, Brendan Fraser's return to Hollywood will be met with ...

Fraser became a marquee action star at the movies with 1997’s “George of the Jungle” and the box office franchise “The Mummy,” but he relinquished his leading man status in the 2010s, as he took smaller roles (including a part on TV’s “The Affair”). Although Fraser had a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move” last year, “The Whale” marks a huge comeback for the actor in his first starring role in a film since 2013’s direct-to-DVD action movie “Breakout.” On Fraser’s upcoming docket is Martin Scorsese’s Apple western “Killers of the Flower Moon.” His turn as Garfield Lynns/Firefly in the DC tentpole “Batgirl” will not be seen as Warner Bros. “I 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. In an interview ahead of the film’s Venice premiere, Fraser shared that his prosthetic suit was “cumbersome, not exactly comfortable,” adding, “The 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.” When the credits rolled on the [Darren Aronofsky](https://variety.com/t/darren-aronofsky/) drama, in which Fraser plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair, the actor was overcome with emotion. “The Whale” stars Fraser as a man living with severe obesity who struggles to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter, played by “Stranger Things” breakout Sadie Sink.

Whale-watching cruises can negatively affect the behavior of cetaceans, depending on species, environment, and population.

[lubricants and fertilizers](https://daily.jstor.org/so-you-plan-to-teach-moby-dick/), to be sure, but there’s still an aspect of commodification here. Although a handful of nations still hunt and kill cetaceans for commercial purposes, “whaling” is now more commonly a form of tourism, enjoyed from Patagonia to Alaska, Norway to South Africa, and off the coasts of China, Iceland, New Zealand, and even Just by showing up, the audience is having an effect. We found disruptions of activity budget and path of directionality as the most consistent responses towards whale-watching vessels. The authors found that behavioral changes “may vary depending on species, populations and environmental features.” For instance, larger species tend to respond to vessels by speeding up. Smaller species, like dolphins, tend to slow down.

Brendan Fraser, the once ubiquitous movie star of 'The Mummy' franchise and 'George of the Jungle' had, in the last decade, backed away from the spotlight.

“His superpower is to see the good in others and bring that out of them.” “For someone like Charlie to see that there’s good in someone like Ellie, it’s throwing her for a loop.” He learned long ago on 1998′s Pi that boundaries are “your gateway to freedom.” On that film, he only had US$20,000 and a dream. “The last few years, so many of us have lost so much. “I was afraid to write it,” he said. Aronofsky and his actors could be poised to leave with trophies in hand this year, too. He said the festival is like home. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, as you would feel stepping off of a boat in Venice,” Fraser said. “To a lot of Sam Hunter’s pain, it took me 10 years to make this movie and that’s because it took me 10 years to cast,” Aronofsky said. While the film already has pundits predicting Oscar nominations, Fraser is trying not to think about whether awards are in his future. Aronofsky has been trying to make The Whale for about 10 years. But Fraser is charting what could be a major comeback starting with his transformative role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which had its world premiere Sunday night at the festival.

Aronofsky has been trying to make 'The Whale' for about 10 years. Getty Images Fraser plays Charlie, a reclusive English teacher with a kind soul who weighs ...

"The last few years, so many of us have lost so much. "His superpower is to see the good in others and bring that out of them." "I thought the only way I can do it is if I write it from a profoundly place of love and empathy. "For someone like Charlie to see that there's good in someone like Ellie, it's throwing her for a loop." In the rough cut, Aronofsky said he was relieved to find that it didn't feel claustrophobic. But he's mostly just glad to be back with his first film since 2017's "Mother!" He learned long ago on 1998's "Pi" that boundaries are "your gateway to freedom." Aronofsky and his actors could be poised to leave with trophies in hand this year, too. [In "Mother!" "To a lot of Sam Hunter's pain, it took me 10 years to make this movie and that's because it took me 10 years to cast," Aronofsky said. One line in particular stuck out to him: "People are incapable of not caring." But Fraser is charting what could be a major comeback starting with his transformative role in Darren Aronofsky's "

Dwayne Johnson and Brendan Fraser were co-stars 21 years ago in "The Mummy Returns."

Johnson and Fraser also share a Hollywood connection thanks to Warner Bros.’ “Journey to the Center of the Earth” franchise. [broke down in tears](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/brendan-fraser-cries-the-whale-venice-standing-ovation-1235337836/) during the reception, a video of which shared by Variety co-editor in chief Ramin Setoodeh on Twitter has earned over 15.5 million views and counting. The actor is earning Oscar buzz and the best reviews of his career for his leading turn in Darren Aronofsky’s “ [The Whale](https://variety.com/t/the-whale/).”

Brendan Fraser is making a comeback with The Whale, a new movie from Darren Aronofsky. Here's everything we know.

The Whale is directed by Darren Aronofsky. Maisel, Saturday Night Live, Only Murders in the Building and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. The director has been around the indie movie scene since the 90s and has built a reputation for his often challenging and narratively ambitious movies. [No Sudden Move](https://www.whattowatch.com/reviews/no-sudden-move-review-a-fun-nasty-little-b-movie-thriller), has appeared in the TV series Doom Patrol and was set to play the villain in [Batgirl](https://www.whattowatch.com/news/dcs-batgirl-gets-the-chop-as-hbo-max-cuts-back-on-original-movies), before Warner Bros. That looks to change with The Whale, a new drama starring Fraser from director Darren Aronofsky. While he was still active heading into the 21st century, he has not been able to reach the same heights as he did in the 90s, mostly appearing in TV shows and smaller, less heralded movies. Those from the 90s will remember Fraser when he was at the height of his stardom, appearing in movies like The Mummy, Airheads, George of the Jungle and Gods and Monsters. It currently (as of September 6) has an 85% on However, The Whale is said to be a showcase for the actor and with more high-profile roles on the horizon, including Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, we’re going to be seeing more of Brendan Fraser very soon. Is there a The Whale trailer? Who is in The Whale cast?

The 2022 Venice Film Festival has 30 LGBTQ titles, including “Tár,” starring Cate Blanchett, and Darren Aronofsky's "The Whale," both Queer Lion contenders.

But Casagrande seems proudest of its ability to launch small indies to more fests and awards, citing Li Cheng’s “José” and Kuba Czekaj’s special mention honoree “Baby Bump.” The Queer Lion has honored features with big-name talent (Tom Ford’s “A Single Man,” Tom Hooper’s “The Danish Girl”) and filmmakers like 2009 Career Achievement award winner Ang Lee. “I like to remember a very laid-back Brian De Palma who, during the press conference for [his 2012 lesbian-themed thriller] “Passion,” declared himself sure of winning the Queer Lion,” Casagrande said with amusement. This year’s jurors are connected with the festival, but past years have included journalists, critics, directors such as filmmaker Tinto Brass (“Caligula”) and the first all-female jury in 2021. Casagrande said this year’s [Venice Film Festival](https://variety.com/t/venice-film-festival/) will be “the most queer edition ever.” “The answer was a warm ‘yes,’ so along with my current right-hand man Marco Busato and Franco Grillini, I started working on the project,” Casagrande said.

"I see I'm going to be stuck between how much I root for Brendan Fraser and how much I hate fat suits," wrote Linda Holmes on Twitter.

"I 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. It's not lost on me that the praise for his performance is in making a fat person seem human." "I developed muscles I did not know I had," he said. "I love Brendan Fraser. "Mr. Many have praised The Mummy star for his performance, which has already been projected to push him to the top of this year's best actor race at the

The new drama sees Fraser play a 600-pound gay man trying desperately to reconnect with his teen daughter.

"My hope was that I would become unrecognizable." I wanted to disappear into it," the ["Mummy"](https://www.insider.com/mummy-movie-brendan-fraser-cast-photos-where-are-they-now-2021-11) star [told Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/awards-insider-the-whale-brendan-fraser-darren-aronofsky-exclusive). In the short video, the teary-eyed actor is shown standing onstage and bowing while audience members clap and cheer for him. Fraser plays Charlie, a reclusive English teacher who struggles with life-threatening obesity. Per Variety, Fraser even tried to walk off stage at one point, but the continued applause led him to take yet another bow.

Director Darren Aronofsky and his star, Brendan Fraser, aim for empathy but come up short.

Here’s Charlie, keening and pleading behind a pane of glass for all of us to sigh and pout and gawk at, before moving on to the next fleeting curiosity. (Again, I see little empathy in the way this scene is framed and choreographed.) Thomas, seeing this heaving totem of misery, wants to save the dying Charlie’s soul, a witless effort toward a man who feels he’s past redemption—spiritually, morally, physically. This is a mighty act of becoming, the film seems to insist—and also one of empathy. But what’s expressed instead is a kind of leering horror, a portrait of a man gone to catastrophic ruin so that we, in the audience, may tap into our nobler, higher minds and see the worthy human being beneath the frightful exterior. Hunter’s 2012 play, The Whale is a story of a morbidly obese man, Charlie (Brendan Fraser), living out what might be his last days as his heart falters and his mind is lost to regret. And now there is The Whale, a lugubrious chamber drama that premiered here at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday.

In Darren Aronofsky's “The Whale,” the onetime leading hunk is earning Oscar chatter for his role as a 600-pound recluse, though the emotional actor is ...

It was clear from the supportive applause at the news conference that people were rooting for the actor, and that personal narrative of a career comeback combined with a showy role could take Fraser to the front of the pack. “I needed to learn to move in a new way,” Fraser said. “I looked different in those days,” he said. But when he was asked about that buzz and what it meant for the future of his career, Fraser said softly that it remained to be seen. And I think that is Charlie.” “It just didn’t move me, it didn’t feel right.” “Thank you for the warm reception,” Fraser said. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, just as you would feel stepping off the boat onto the dock here in Venice.” [Hong Chau](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/movies/hong-chau-downsizing-stereotyping.html)) warns Charlie that his blood pressure is so severe that if he doesn’t change his ways or go to a hospital, he’ll almost certainly die. And whenever the clearly emotional Fraser managed to make it to the end of a statement without his eyes filling with tears, the room full of journalists burst into encouraging applause. Stories like this are possible because of our deep commitment to original reporting, produced by a global staff of over 1,700 journalists who have all dedicated themselves to helping you understand the world. Aronofsky wanted to mount the movie for years but could never land on the right lead.

Darren Aronofsky's new film stars Brendan Fraser as a morbidly obese professor. It's hard to imagine anyone being as captivating in the role, ...

The Whale is a kind of companion piece to the director's 2008 hit, The Wrestler (although, unusually for Aronofsky, he didn't write either of them), in that it involves a man with an estranged daughter, a heart condition, and a body he has pushed to painfully unhealthy extremes. Fraser richly deserves to be nominated for a best actor Oscar, and if that doesn't happen, I won't just eat my hat, I'll eat as many pizzas and cheese-and-meatball sandwiches as Charlie gets through in the film. For a film that opens with a 40-stone man suffering chest spasms after masturbating to online pornography, The Whale turns out to be disappointingly stodgy and sentimental. (One of Charlie's favourite books is Moby Dick, so the title isn't just a reference to his size.) It's rare to see prosthetic make-up on this scale outside of a body-horror movie, but it's so well done that the viewer comes to accept it within minutes. But all Charlie cares about is talking to Ellie (Sadie Sink), the 17-year-old daughter he hasn't seen since he left her and her mother (Samantha Morton) eight years earlier. The reason for this shyness is that he has been depressed since the suicide of his lover, several years ago, and he has kept eating to the point where he is morbidly obese.

Darren Aronofsky's The Whale fails Brendan Fraser, saddling him with a reductive role, that never moves beyond the closed-circuit claptrap.

The Whale does not engage outside of the known narrative of the actor in the film — it’s his comeback! (Reminder: the character is physically introduced through masturbation which signals the desire to shock with his body, right from the get, something opposite of the tear-drenched ending and partially why the ending doesn’t feel earned to me). He has a set routine, which includes regular visits from his caretaker, who has ties to his past (Hong Chau), and Dan, the pizza delivery guy who follows the regular instructions of delivery — leave on the ledge, money is in the mailbox. Morton, too, was more of a mainstay in the early 2000s and has faded into lesser roles. The Whale is Fraser’s first leading role in a theatrical movie in a decade. Therein lies part of the problem of The Whale, the main character is not a vessel for his own journey but for a secondary character, and, by extension, the audience.

Venice, Italy (AP) -- Brendan Fraser is having a moment at the Venice International Film Festival.

At its Venice world premiere, Darren Aronofsky's 'The Whale' received a seven-minute standing ovation; star Brendan Fraser was visibly moved.

In that process, he’s on his journey of salvation.” Star [Brendan Fraser](https://deadline.com/tag/brendan-fraser/) was visibly moved as he was embraced by his director while extended applause rang throughout the auditorium. makes adjectives such as ‘brave’ and ‘fearless’ seem almost meaningless” and said The Whale is “cutting the line to put a never-better Brendan Fraser at the front of the Best Actor race.”

The nailed-on awards-bothering performance to beat has arrived in the shape of Brendan Fraser's living-with-obesity shut-in, who's seeking forgiveness from ...

And in the wake of recent global events, it’s likely to prompt catharsis and blubbing for audiences. In that, it’s a film that takes the specific and makes it universal. An unshakeable optimist, he puts his trust in the belief that “people are amazing” and “incapable of not caring”. Buried in a 600lb body-adjustment suit with wispy hair, clammy skin, and the sadness of a condemned animal in his eyes, Fraser’s Charlie is a man whose addictive emotional eating has brought him to the edge of death in his cramped Idaho apartment. The body he’s created from pain, compulsion, and as a literal buffer to society seems to be finally ushering him out of the cruel world he inhabits. The nailed-on awards-bothering performance to beat has arrived in the shape of Brendan Fraser’s living-with-obesity shut-in, who’s seeking forgiveness from his daughter, and himself, in Darren Aronofsky’s button-pushing adaptation of Samuel D.

'The Mummy' actor's Hollywood comeback could see him earn an Oscar nomination.

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Brendan Fraser is making his big comeback in Daren Aronofsky's new film, "The Whale," which received a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film ...

The Whale is scheduled to be released in the U.S. The Whale marks Fraser's first major career comeback, as it's his first leading role in a decade. The film will be receiving an exclusively theatrical release. The recognition at the event received by Fraser is said to have led him to cry. Here is everything you need to know about the forthcoming film. Now weighing 600 pounds, Charlie may not have long to live.

Fraser said during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival that filming in the prosthetic suit gave him an "appreciation" for people with obesity.

[According to The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/brendan-fraser-the-whale-venice-heroic-1235212049/), Fraser said during a press conference for the movie at Venice Film Festival that the movie gave him an "appreciation" for people with obesity. I even felt a sense of vertigo, when at the end of the day all the appliances were removed, just as you would feel stepping off the boat onto the dock here in Venice — that undulating feeling." And I think that is Charlie, also." "I needed to learn to absolutely move in a new way. "I think it's poetic that the trauma he carries is manifest in the physical weight of his body," Fraser said. Darren Aronofsky, the director,

Brendan Fraser attends "The Whale" & "Filming Italy Best Movie Achievement Award" red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 4 in ...

[According to Variety, ](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/brendan-fraser-the-whale-weight-prosthetics-venice-1235359484/) "The Mummy" star is being touted as a serious Oscars contender with his portrayal in the drama. [his performance in "The Whale," ](https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/entertainment/brendan-fraser-the-whale/index.html)

Body horror takes a new form in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, which chronicles the long, slow suicide of a morbidly obese man with pitiless candour but an ...

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Millennial fave Brendan Fraser, who seemingly disappeared in the 2010s, makes a belated career comeback in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale. The movie may prove ...

In the wake of the profile came a groundswell of solidarity for the star who once dominated our childhoods. In a 2018 interview [with GQ](https://www.gq.com/story/what-ever-happened-to-brendan-fraser), he revealed all: his self-worth plummeted in the wake of an alleged sexual assault in 2003, followed by an aching sense of disillusionment. [Mummy](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-mummy-tom-cruise) trilogy, for one, and starred in such family rental favourites as George of the Jungle. It’s true that this is the sort of thing, where an actor eschews vanity for a boatload of makeup and prosthetics, that voting bodies love: just look at Gary Oldman’s wobbly Churchill facsimile in The Darkest Hour, or even Eddie Redmayne’s controversial take on a trans woman in The Danish Girl. But this was as much a display of collective relief as it was the product of catharsis. It seemed as though he’d waited for years, not so much for the recognition as to be vindicated; truthfully, he has.

Here at The A.V. Club, we know that there's nothing that our readers care about more than how many minutes people clap for after a movie premieres at a ...

[groped by former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk](https://www.avclub.com/brendan-fraser-says-he-was-groped-by-ex-hfpa-president-1823237740), and believes that the fallout from that interaction left him all but blacklisted for over a decade. I wanted to know what I was capable of.” That’s the start of an Oscar campaign if we’ve ever heard one. On Sunday night, Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Whale premiered in Venice, where it received a six-minute standing ovation. Now, there is new clapping to talk about and it may even move you (not clickbait!). The actor told Club, we know that there’s nothing that our readers care about more than how many minutes people clap for after a movie premieres at a European film festival.

The 2022 Venice Film Festival is halfway through its run and, as expected, the movie event has brought together a slate of titles that have become this ...

The trailer for the movie is yet to be released. Clearly moved and trying to fight back tears, Fraser does an exaggerated bow and prepares to exit the theater, but is prompted to stay due to the continuous roar of applause. The 2022 Venice Film Festival is halfway through its run and, as expected, the movie event has brought together a slate of titles that have become this year’s standouts, and we’ll certainly hear from them in the months to come.