The Whale debuted at London Film Festival yesterday. The film sees Fraser play Charlie, a morbidly obese and reclusive English teacher attempting to reconnect with his estranged 17-year-old daughter, Elle (played by Sadie Sink from Stranger Things). It premiered at Venice Film Festival earlier this year, and then too received a standing ovation at the end.
Fraser received an outpouring of approving applause at the London Film Festival
The same thing occurred in London on Tuesday evening. Sharing footage of Fraser’s emotional response, one attendee tweeted: “Am I at Venice? 5 min standing ovation for Brendan Fraser’s masterpiece performance in The Whale. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand the entire movie. My heart is in my throat.
Am I at Venice? 5 min standing ovation for Brendan Fraser’s masterpiece performance in #TheWhale. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand the entire movie. My heart is in my throat. #LFF @a24 pic.twitter.com/dHsCAErgu0
— Lauren Bradshaw (@flickchickdc) October 11, 2022
Fraser was last seen in the DC series Doom Patrol as Cliffe Steele (and Cliffe’s alter-ego Robotman). He also had a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh’s 2021 film No Sudden Move.
SEE MORE: ★★★★★ The Whale review | ‘A difficult, heart-breaking, masterful film’
In our five-star review of The Whale, Maria Lattila writes: “As good as Aronofsky’s filmmaking is, this is Brendan Fraser’s film. A budding star in the late 90s and early 2000s, his career never recovered after he came forward about his experiences of sexual abuse in the industry. Where we now support victims, especially women, there was very little support for men like Fraser back in the day, which only makes his return so much sweeter.”
During a fan interview last year, the actor seemed moved after receiving overwhelming support from the audience.
After The Whale, Brendan is next set to appear in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and was due a role in DC’s cancelled Batgirl, in which he was set to play the villain Garfield Lynns, aka Firefly.
