The Whale Star Brendan Fraser Blasts Body Shamers, Says the Term ‘Fat Suit’ is “in Service of a Cheap Joke”
The 2022 Brendan Fraser starrer flick The Whale has been critically acclaimed with the movie receiving a 5-minute-long standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. However, some people have found something to criticize about the movie. And it is the casting of an actor who is not actually a 600-pound obese man. To this director, Darren Aronofsky responded that the best actor for the role should be chosen as it is much more unreasonable to cast an actual morbidly obese person.
Despite everything, the best effort was put in to achieve authenticity according to the director. Additionally, in a recent interview, Fraser pointed out that he did not like people calling his costume a “fat suit”. As it had been actually tiresome to achieve an authentic look, therefore, to make light of it and make jokes out of it did not sit right with the actor.
Brendan Fraser is Against People Calling his 300-pound Costume a Fat Suit
In the 2022 film The Whale, Brendan Fraser plays a 600-pound recluse with deteriorating health. And to achieve the look the actor had to put a fair amount of effort to gain weight. In addition to his own weight, the rest was covered by padding and prosthetics. Fraser received a standing ovation for his role during the screening of the movie at the Venice Film festival. Everything turned out extremely well for the movie. However, The Mummy star is not happy with the fact that people are calling his look in the movie a “fat suit”. According to him in the earlier years in most cases, efforts did not go into emulating weight by the actors. This prevented the achievement of authenticity, but it had been no issue as,
“normally the silhouette of a costume that’s worn by a fairly athletic actor and it’s in service of a cheap joke or to vilify a character” shared Fraser in an interview with Deadline.
And therefore, according to him, the effort that went into achieving an authentic look of a 600-pound man in The Whale had been worth it. His role has not been used for the purpose of humor rather it actually shows the struggles of an obese person. Referring to the prosthetics and padding works, the actor shared, “It was cumbersome, with good reason.”
Furthermore, he also shared his dislike of the word “fat suit” used by some people. Fraser explained the word was associated with inauthentic weight emulation in the past years. With that, he also added that it was one thing people would never hear him say.
Darren Aronofsky on His Casting Choice
Although The Whale received critical acclaim, however, some people questioned the casting of Brendan Fraser. Some are of the opinion that the role was snatched away from an actual obese actor. However, according to director Darren Aronofsky, all he required was a “great actor”. And Fraser was the best choice in his opinion. He also added that casting someone who is morbidly obese was unreasonable, as the physical struggles of a person suffering from obesity are quite well-known.
According to Aronofsky, the best effort was used to make the look as real as possible. He added, “Actors have been using makeup since the beginning of acting — that’s one of their tools”. And therefore there was no point in rejecting a great actor only because they were not 600-pound in real life.
Source: MovieWeb
