On Sunday, at the world premiere of "The Whale," Brendan Fraser was overcome with emotion, after receiving a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
In the Darren Aronofsky drama, Fraser plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair, who struggles to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter.
The actor had to wear a prosthetic suit that added 50 to 300 pounds and had to spend six hours in the makeup chair each day to complete the transformation.
"I developed muscles I did not know I had. 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. 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."
- Brendan Fraser
"The Whale" marks a huge comeback for the actor in his first leading role in a film since 2013. A24 will release "The Whale" in theaters Dec. 9.
