Fraser’s performance in The Whale is already receiving early Oscar talk.
Photo: Andreas Rentz (Getty Images)
Nothing matters more to our readers than how long people applaud when a movie debuts at a European film festival, we are aware of this at The A.V. Club. The over nine minutes of applause for Bones And All made young Timothée Chalamet the King Of Claps at the Venice International Film Festival this year, while White Noise’s two and a half minute standing ovation was deemed “tepid.” There is fresh clapping to discuss right now, and it could even make you feel something (not clickbait!).
The Whale, a new movie by Darren Aronofsky, had its world premiere on Sunday night in Venice to a six-minute standing ovation. According to Variety, the gesture allegedly sent Brendan Fraser, who plays a 600-pound, wheelchair-bound gay man in the movie, to tears. The source continues, “At one point, he tried to leave the auditorium, but the clapping was so intense, he stayed longer and took a bow.”
All I can say is: excellent for him. Fraser, a significant leading man in the 1990s and early 2000s, disclosed in 2018 that he had been grabbed by former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk, and thinks that the aftermath from that incident effectively banned him for over a decade. Fraser has slowly gotten more work since that announcement, including roles in Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move and the stalled Batgirl movie (which is a whole other thing). According to the applause in Italy, Fraser’s comeback has been a resounding success.
Following the hype in Venice, it appears like The Whale has the potential to make Fraser a first-time Oscar contender, which he appears to be well aware of. “I’ve had such diversity [in my career], a lot of high highs and low lows, so what I’m hungry for, in the second half of my time doing this, is to feel like I’m adding to the art and learning from it,” the actor told Harper’s Bazaar on August 31. This is a fantastic opportunity… “I was curious as to what I was capable of.” That’s the best start to an Oscar campaign we’ve ever heard. Brendan Fraser, congratulations, and enjoy the applause; you deserve it.
