The first look at The Whale – the first film since 2013 that stars Brendan Fraser in a leading role – has been released. And we couldn’t be happier about Fraser coming back to the big screen.
Brendan Fraser was a huge star in the late 90s and early 2000s. His roles in George of the Jungle and The Mummy made him iconic. But Fraser sadly stepped away from film acting because of several traumatic incidents that occurred back then.
Firstly, Fraser was forced to undergo a partial knee replacement and vocal cord surgery as his body was damaged from various stunts he’d performed for action films. Fraser also alleges that around this time, in 2003 to be exact, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s former president Philip Berk sexually assaulted him.
But Fraser is finally (and thankfully) coming back into the spotlight. Fraser is set to appear in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film, Killers of the Flower Moon – which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and is currently set for a 2023 release.
Not only this, but Fraser also is starring in Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky’s next film, The Whale. In The Whale, Fraser will play Charlie, a reclusive English teacher who suffers from severe obesity, and the film will follow Charlie as he attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter. And the first look at The Whale dropped today.
A24, the entertainment company behind The Whale, took to Twitter to announce that the film will premiere at the 79th Venice Film Festival – which will take place later this year from August 31st to September 10th – and to share a still of Fraser from The Whale.
The Whale marks Fraser’s first leading role since the 2013 film Breakout, which was a direct-to-DVD action flick; and we couldn’t be more excited to see Fraser back on the big screen. Especially as Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink will star opposite Fraser as Charlie’s daughter in The Whale.
Currently, there’s no exact release date for The Whale but it’s likely the film will be released in cinemas in September, after the Venice Film Festival. So, mark your calendars and get ready for the ‘Brenaissance’.
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