Martin Scorsese praises Brendan Fraser in Killers of the Flower Moon as actor faces backlash over performance
The resurgence of Brendan Fraser's career has continued as one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood has appeared in another hit movie.
Fraser picked up the Best Actor gong at this year's Oscars for his performance in The Whale and he followed that up with an appearance in Martin Scorsese's recently released Killers of the Flower Moon.
Plenty are rooting for Fraser following his claims that he was 'blacklisted' by Hollywood after opening up about historic sexual abuse.
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As a result many are following Fraser's career with great interest and his recent resurgence has been dubbed 'The Brenaissance'.
Following up an Oscar-winning performance with an appearance in Killers of the Flower Moon looks to have been a strong career move, there are few actors who would turn down the chance to work with Scorsese after all.
However, his performance has been one of the more divisive parts of the film with the actor receiving some backlash on social media.
Fraser, who plays lawyer W.S. Hamilton in Killers of the Flower Moon, has been slated by some who've called his performance 'baffling' and complained that it seems cartoonish in an otherwise very serious film.
While there have been some slating Fraser for his performance, many others have stepped in to defend him as 'great', and the only vote of confidence an actor really needs is the nod of approval from their director.
In this regard he's passed with flying colours, as Scorsese spoke glowingly of Fraser's 'perfect' performance in the film and described the actor as 'just great to work with'.
"We thought he'd be great for the lawyer and I admired his work over the years," Scorsese said of Fraser joining Killers of the Flower Moon.
"He actually came in for I think a couple of weeks on the picture, particularly when it was in our later shoot.
"We had a really good time working together, particularly with Leo. Particularly in the scene where he says 'they're putting a noose around your neck, he's saving you dumb boy'.
"Really for us, when we heard that he brought the whole scene down on Leo it was perfect. And had that girth, he's big in the frame at that time. He's a wonderful actor, and he was just great to work with."
Scorsese spoke in glowing terms of several of Killers of the Flower Moon's major stars.
While he's certainly no stranger to working with Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Scorsese said that Lily Gladstone had what he called a 'perfect cinema face'.
He said: "She could be saying nothing, but you feel everything going on behind her eyes and in the positioning of her face when she moves.
"But there's so much going on inside of her, and it's reflected in a very still way."
Killers of the Flower Moon is based on a non-fiction book of the same name which was published in 2017 that recounts the true story of a series of murders of Osage Native Americans for the rights to oil beneath Oklahoma.
In the film Gladstone plays Mollie, an Osage woman who is courted by Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) on the encouragement of his uncle William K. Hale (De Niro).
Scorsese said the relationship between Mollie and Ernest was 'the real core of the picture' and found that his 'biggest challenge' when making Killers of the Flower Moon was 'balancing the emotional complexity of the relationship'.
Killers of the Flower Moon is in cinemas now.
Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Brendan Fraser, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro
Joe Harker