After years away from the leading-man spotlight, Brendan Fraser is set to make a splash in Toronto with The Whale. The Darren Aronofsky drama has been touted as a career revival and received a rousing reception upon premiering in Venice. Fraser was last at TIFF in 2004 for Paul Haggis’ star-studded Crash.
The actor joined castmembers including Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Terrence Howard at the premiere for the film that examined race relations in Los Angeles through a series of intertwining storylines; one centers on District Attorney Rick Cabot (Fraser) and wife Jean (Bullock) experiencing a traumatic carjacking. Despite a mixed critical response, the movie picked up steam during awards season and notched an upset best picture win over presumed frontrunner Brokeback Mountain.
Fraser hasn’t been a lead in a studio release since 2008’s Warner Bros. fantasy adaptation Inkheart.
A THR opinion piece pegged to that film’s release suggested that he could benefit from an against-type role to knock “both the actor and his fans out of their mutual comfort zone.”
Given that The Whale, the adaptation of the Drama Desk-winning play of the same name that A24 is set to release Dec. 9, features Fraser as a 600-pound man attempting to reconnect with his teen daughter, he appears to have found just that.
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