Brendan Fraser opens up on struggles of filming with extra 300lb for upcoming film The Whale

Brendan Fraser has opened up about the struggle of carrying an extra 300lb while filming for his upcoming flick The Whale.

The 53-year-old actor takes on the lead role in Darren Aronofsky’s forthcoming drama, about a 600lb man called Charlie who tries to reconnect with his teenage daughter.

Charlie's weight gain was a result of a spiral of guilt-induced binge eating after having left his family for a gay lover who later died.

A24

Fraser's transformation was no mean feat, involving a highly elaborate and detailed prosthetic suit.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the star revealed that he was carrying anywhere between 50 to 300 extra pounds while shooting the scenes, something he described as 'cumbersome' and 'not exactly comfortable'.

Getting in and out of the suit proved to be one of the hardest parts of filming for Fraser, with the actor saying: "The torso piece [of the suit] was almost like a straight jacket."

He went on to add that a lot of make-up and effects went into making the suit look as natural as possible.

"With sleeves that went on, airbrushed by hand, to look identical as would human skin, right down to the hand-punched hair."

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Yep, hand-punched hair, which is as tedious as it sounds - Fraser wound up spending between five and six hours in the makeup chair each day to get the look down.

And that's not even the worst of it, during filming Fraser had anywhere from an extra 50 to 300 pounds on him, which as you can imagine makes it incredibly hard to walk around set.

Still, people were on hand to help the iconic actor and he fully immersed himself in the role.

He even consulted the Obesity Action Coalition, speaking to those who underwent bariatric surgeries and learning what it meant to portray someone with a higher-weight body.

"I learned quickly that it takes an incredibly strong person inside that body to be that person.

"That seemed fitting and poetic and practical to me, all at once," Fraser explained.

And we for one can't wait to see the film, knowing how much care Fraser and the whole team put into bringing Charlie's story to life.

Speaking at GalaxyCon Raleigh back in July, Fraser said: "I can attest that this project was made by artisans in each and every category."

We can't wait to see the final results.