TIFF fans praise ‘The Whale’ as Fraser-issance continues

Fans of actor Brendan Fraser who have been rooting for his return to prominence and creative praise many have gotten their wish, with his upcoming film The Whale continuing to receive high praise at the Toronto International Film Festival.

For those unaware, Fraser was subject to an extensive standing ovation earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival after a screening of The Whale. Fraser, who plays a heavily obese man in the Darren Aronofsky directed film, fought back tears when people showed how much they loved his performance. Variety has now reported crowds at TIFF have a similar view which has again left Fraser feeling moved.

A visibly emotional Brendan Fraser fought back tears as The Whale received a passionate standing ovation at its Toronto International Film Festival premiere on Sunday. The crowd stood for roughly five minutes until festival organizers quieted applause to begin a question-and-answer session with Fraser, director Darren Aronofsky, writer Samuel D. Hunter and cast.

Later in the article, Fraser is quoted as saying during the question-and-answer session it takes strength to be the kind of person he is in the adaptation of the play of the same name by Hunter. At the end of the day Fraser could take off the prosphetic suit he wore for the role, but something about it stayed with him and hopes people take away something positive from what is a very tough character study.

I learned that when you just invest everything you can and give it what you’ve got as if it’s the first and last time you ever will something important can come of that. And I think that with your help we might be able to change some hearts and minds.

The Whale premieres Dec. 9 in the United States. The film chronicles a man trying to reconnect with his child on the cusp of adulthood, and has a small cast which includes Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins, and Sathya Sridharan. The Whale currently has an 85 percent positive rating based on 26 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and consensus is Fraser crushes it.