Featured Image Credit: A24
Topics: TV and Film, Brendan Fraser
Jess Hardiman
The first trailer for Brendan Fraser drama The Whale has finally dropped ahead of its release next month, and it looks like we're in for an emotional ride. Watch it here:
Directed by Darren Aronofsky, The Whale tells the tale of a reclusive overweight English teacher Charlie, played by Fraser, who attempts to reconnect with his seventeen-year-old daughter (Sadie Sink).
"Do you ever get the feeling people are incapable of not caring?" Fraser's Charlie says in the new trailer, later adding in a whisper: "People are amazing."
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The film has already been met with critical acclaim and two standing ovations at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, and it seems the trailer has only added to the mounting excitement for its release on the big screen - with social media users saying the one-minute glimpse into the movie gave them 'chills'.
One person tweeted: "I got goosebumps it's beautiful."
Someone else wrote: "This film is going to make me sob for hours during and after. I can already tell."
A third said: "F**king. Chills."
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A fourth added: "They got me crying already with a short trailer, god."
In the film we see Fraser's Charlie struggle with spiralling binge eating, brought on by the guilt of leaving his family for a gay lover, who later died.
Unsurprisingly, the transformation into a 600lb widow wasn't a straightforward process for the actor, who previously told Newsweek: “It’s gonna be like something you haven’t seen before. That’s really all I can tell you…The wardrobe and costume was extensive, seamless, cumbersome.
“This is certainly far removed from anything I’ve ever done but not to be coy... I do know it’s going to make a lasting impression.”
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In another 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, who recalled: "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'.
The Whale will premiere in US cinemas on 9 December, before its UK release on 3 February 2023.