Brendan Fraser: The Whale 'is a story that takes place indoors, all over the world'

La ballena

(The Whale), about a morbidly obese English teacher, was one of the possible candidates for an

.

The film was left out of the race for the statuette, but that did not stop it from becoming the center of controversy.

The American premiere quickly drew two camps: that of those who were moved by the story and the portrait of Charlie, and that of those who repudiated the representation of the protagonist and his condition.

Brendan Fraser also known for his leading role in films like The Mummy. Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP.

As is well known, a good part of the discussions in the

cultural ecosystem revolve around “representation”, the key word of the time, imbued with an almost mystical power and invoked by groups and minorities who conceive of fiction as a battlefield. to conquer for one's own cause.

The film's treatment of Charlie was the target of all kinds of criticism: the charges against the director

include, in addition to the general mistreatment of the protagonist, promoting a negative image of the obese and the pathologization of fatness (the reverse would be, it seems, to show it as a choice of life).

The virulence of the criticism indicates that the film, beyond its merits and faults, has some kind of forcefulness, effectiveness.

And a good part of that efficiency must be found in the work of Brendan Fraser, who finds in Charlie the opportunity to return to mainstream cinema with an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, after years of

in films of low or no visibility. .

Transforming into Charlie cost Fraser four hours a day of makeup.

Carrying a wardrobe of more than one hundred kilos, the actor gave the character an unprecedented gesture: immobility, difficulty stopping or breathing, exhaustion, perspiration, the way in which he shakes the crumbs off his chest, everything It looks new, something that the cinema had hardly filmed.

In The Whale, Hong (Chau) is nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

A rising star since the late 1990s, Fraser built his career around physical cinema, be it adventure films (The

saga or

) or comedies (

,

).

After a long and involuntary retirement, her return with The Whale has him exploring other forms of hyperbolic corporeality, even if they are no longer vital and joyous but rather precarious and

suffering.

About this, she spoke by video call with

.

How did you prepare for the character of Charlie?

How was that process?

–The process began with the study of the script: I had to learn each line because I wanted to be ready, I knew that I was going to be very uncomfortable and busy on set.

I worked with a movie coach who helped me understand how gravity works on a body like Charlie's.

I also consulted an organization,

, which gave me some very good suggestions.

We rehearsed for three whole weeks before we started filming.

It was something very rare: it is very good to have such an opportunity.

On the other hand, there were things I didn't do.

For example, I didn't watch movies, because I don't think this story was ever told before.

I thought of some films, like

, with

: I saw it again and I think in general terms that the film supports the passing of the years, but it plays with the idea of ​​the obese man as a beast.

We wondered what the precedents were for a movie like

: movies that featured obese characters are almost always unfair, make cruel jokes, mistreat the leads or the

and

trivialize obesity.

All of that was very important because she knew what he didn't want to do: Charlie had to be allowed to have dignity and respect.

By that I mean, for example, that the makeup was not noticeable.

Because if Charlie's body wasn't really believable, there was no movie possible.

Everything went perfectly, and almost nothing is done digitally, as many media have said: what you see is a costume worn by an actor.

Despite exceeding 250 kilos, the protagonist does not want to change his high-calorie diet. Photo: AP

–And beyond the wardrobe, how did you approach Charlie's gestures and movements?

–Rehearsing and paying attention to how obese people manage to move or to stand still.

I talked about his

with people who had to have

because they weighed hundreds of pounds, who saved themselves by losing weight and staying healthy, because they wouldn't have survived otherwise.

They told me about their eating habits and the disorders that caused them.

–Charlie is constantly receiving attacks from other characters, however, he always responds with kindness, with a smile.

How did you work on the relationship with the other actors and with that particular type of reaction?

–Charlie has a secret superpower, one that

(author of the play and screenwriter of the film) wrote for him, and that is that he can bring out the best in anyone else.

The others may get to see what Charlie shows them of themselves, but the tragedy is that Charlie can't see that in him.

I had mentors, teachers, professors, relatives... We all knew and admired people who were university professors, people of letters, "read".

Charlie is a linguist, he is an educator, he is someone who is meant to be a mentor to others.

  –But it must not be easy for an actor not to be able to respond to the other interpreters in the same tone, right?

-It's that Charlie is an optimist, which irritates his ex-wife a lot.

And he clearly irritates his daughter, who is furious with her father, which she understands by how hurt she is.

And Liz, who is his friend, the one who takes care of him, the sister of Charlie's deceased partner... she is a doctor, she is a health worker, and she is very conflicted because of having to help Charlie get food that worsens his condition. .

But that's the situation: Liz can't judge him because she knows that she has an eating disorder.

(Chau) is fantastic, she communicates so much beyond the script, she does so much in the pauses, in the silences.

I'd like to see a whole movie about Liz.

Well, there's a reason Hong is nominated for

, isn't she?

Brendan Fraser arriving at the Critics' Choice Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Jan. 15, 2023. Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

–And being Charlie someone so kind, so optimistic, don't you think that the film is a little hard on him sometimes?

A little mean?

Well, the world is hard.

And Charlie's world is a world of pain.

I agree with you.

Charlie is alone, regretting many decisions, he lost the trust and love of his daughter.

On top of all that, he is ignored by a

and

that attributes his physical condition to moral failure.

So yeah, it's a cruel world for him.

And we have to ask ourselves: what is happening to him, was it something that happened to him, or is it a situation created by himself?

Or both?

Don't know.

All I know is that this is a story that takes place behind closed doors across the country, across the world, and we don't see it.

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