Once upon a time, a giant Marlboro Man perched in front of Chateau Marmont, and a three-course meal for two still cost well under $100 at Spago. brendan fraser he arrived in Hollywood determined to win her over and found, to his surprise, that the place offered no resistance.
Movie stardom came too easily for the burly young Canadian, and he knows it now, because he’s been through much more difficult times in his life since then. “I’ve driven through this city that I’ve lived in,” Fraser, now 54, told me recently in Los Angeles, “and it’s like seeing the ghosts of myself, the memories coming back.”
Reminiscent of the excitement of the 90s, when she had success with lead roles in movies like California man AND honor codehe swung through the trees like the friendly George of the jungle and performed daring feats The Mummy. But he was perceived less as a serious actor and more as a pretty clumsy.
And as Fraser’s comedies began paying lower dividends in the 2000s, the actor has faced a variety of hardships, including an expensive divorce, a son with autism, injuries from years of stunt work and a sexual assault. which, according to him, was committed by the first president of the Golden Globes, Philip Berk, and which made him withdraw from the spotlight.
In 2020 the director Darren Aronofsky came across a trailer for an old film with Fraser and thought the actor was ripe for revenge: he offered Fraser the lead role of The whalebased on the play by Samuel D. Hunter, about Charlie, an obese professor who has withdrawn from the world, but tries to make things right with his estranged daughter (Sadie Sink).
To play Charlie, Fraser consulted the Obesity Action Coalition and donned a prosthetic suit so heavy that it had to be filled with cold water pipes to regulate his body temperature.
“In a way, it was a fusion of man and machine,” he says.
Fraser’s interpretation in The whale earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, and later this year he can be seen in The flower moon killersby Martin Scorsese, demonstrating that his return to prestige is not something isolated.
“If directors are painters and actors are different colors, there hasn’t been a color like Brendan on the palette for a long time,” Aronofsky said. “I’m very, very proud that he got what he deserved.”
In person, Fraser is so courteous and soft-spoken that just eating a salad in front of him can make you feel like you’re tearing apart saucers. When I met him at a West Hollywood hotel restaurant in mid-February, he humbly spoke about awards season making him a Hollywood star again.
“I won’t take anything for granted, knowing how long this journey has been,” he said.
-As awards season progresses, have you met your fellow nominees?
-Yes, and also have a deep respect for others, knowing that we are all in the same race: jump, crawl, swim, sharks, barbed wire, do it again! I feel camaraderie and was happy to see Ke (Huy Quan) again, because the last time I saw him was many years ago and we worked together at California man. I was effusive and told him, “We’re still here.” He replied, “That’s right, we are.” I’m so happy to see him reborn.
-How does it feel to give these acceptance speeches and witness so many tributes?
-I’m having a replay of out-of-body experiences, pinching myself: is this really happening to me? My obligation is to take on this wave of generosity and support. It really baffles me and I’m very grateful for that, but it would be remiss of me not to properly acknowledge it.
Modest
-In what sense do you need to deserve all these events?
-I just have to be worthy of them because I am aware of where I was, where I went and where I am now. At the same time, I’m reluctant to trust anything because I’ve been on a carousel a few times and I know that if you get too comfortable, you can become complacent. Then you get into trouble and let your demand level drop and things slip away that would otherwise worry you a lot.
-In “The Whale” you had to wear a lot of prosthetics. How does this affect how you act?
-I knew it was a disguised job. I knew it would be embarrassing. AND? I knew I’d have to be very patient to hang on to the scenes we were shooting as they made the adjustments between takes. And Darren likes to shoot a lot of takes.
So it had to be like a horse that he had that was very optimistic. You could tie it, brush it, and it never jumped. You have to stand still and bear, be patient and not bite or kick anyone because they are there to help you. So you let it all happen and do what you have to do.
How did you prepare for the film?
-The Obesity Action Coalition gave me access to many people, so I was able to ask their story on Zoom calls. I spoke to about eight or ten people—some bedridden, some perfectly mobile—and asked them, “What’s your diet for one day?” And they described it to me in the same way a person drinks, uses substances, has sex or is addicted to gambling.
Self-medication with eating is in the same wheel as that behavior, a cycle of risk, reward, risk, reward, pleasure for me, pleasure for me. It happens in the same neurological way as people who have these other vices as a crutch in their lives: if they deserve your sympathy, so does a person who has the temerity to exist in a huge body. I say this cynically.
-What did you bring to Charlie?
I know how it feels to be the butt of a cruel joke. You’re looking at a guy who has been compared to an example of himself from 25 years ago in a thong. This is morbid and sells copies of the Daily mailBut damn the consequences of who could be the human being who receives that kind of scorn and ridicule. You know what? It’s not nice.
I have feelings. I identify with the constant harangue that people living in oversized bodies have to endure in their daily lives. Doctors neglect them, they don’t receive the same care. This affects self-confidence and can lead to more harmful behavior. It is a health consequence that can be eradicated if we stop being mean to others.
-How did you feel on the last day of shooting?
-The last time I took off my makeup, I was really excited. I know he’s a bit of a woo-woo actor, but I didn’t miss the fact that I could take off my costume and the people who live in that body can’t. I hoped I hadn’t misled them by pretending to be who they were in a way that wasn’t helpful, but it really felt like I was saying hi to a guy I knew in a very personal way.
Also, after playing this role, I felt that it gave me salvation. It allowed me to reintroduce myself to an industry that, if it loses sight of you, loses sight of you. We all age, we all change: less hair, a different body.
I wanted to play Charlie so that I could lean into it and embrace it, to get oxygen from the overbearing voices that I perhaps imagined would frown on him. To be honest with you, I feel like I’m redeeming myself by being able to give a performance that reinvents who I am and pays homage to everything that was overlooked about who I was before professionally.
You said you don’t want to take this moment for granted. Have you done this before?
– I sure was pleased. This is what I mean when I say I don’t want to get too comfortable with this.
-As soon as he came to Hollywood and starring roles started arriving. I understand that you feel comfortable.
-I know, and I was ignorant. I felt like Chauncey Gardiner (the character in from the garden). I didn’t know I couldn’t walk on water, why didn’t someone tell me? It’s funny, because these are the kind of roles I’ve also played: they were fish out of water, kids in the woods, and that was me.
-What did acting mean to you at the age of 20? Does it mean something different now?
-So, it was a matter of life and death. This is the stake of a young man’s ambition. But now I feel like I have nothing to prove. For everything I’ve done to create this character, I can’t move. If he hasn’t landed, then I seriously don’t know what I’m doing. That’s how I felt in the end.
How does it feel to know you were right?
-It’s gratifying and I feel it’s a good thing. After Toronto (the film festival), one of the guys from the OAC wrote to me and said that he was moved by the film and that he strongly believes that this character will save someone’s life, if not many.
I know the response was mixed – for, against and I accept the controversy – but in the press a man who hadn’t even seen the film said, “This is my story.” Like Charlie, he hides from his classmates and students with the computer. He has a strained relationship with his son. He can’t leave the house for fear of embarrassment and can’t breathe properly due to the weight his body supports.
To have that recognition and make this guy say something like, “Now I’m inspired to change my ways,” I mean, what can you say about it other than mission accomplished? We make movies to entertain and enlighten, but every once in a while one of them might be able to change the culture or way of thinking, if only for a while. And I’m lucky to be in this.”
Source: Clarin
