Brendan Fraser insists he's 'made peace with himself'

’I don’t look the way I did in those days – and don’t want to’: Brendan Fraser insists he’s ‘made peace with himself’ after ‘retreating’ from mainstream Hollywood… as actor wins plaudits for his starring role in The Whale

  • The actor, once famed for his rugged physique and brooding good looks, is unrecognisable as dangerously overweight English teacher Charlie in The Whale
  • It’s a role that comes many years after his Hollywood career reached a box-office high in The Mummy, where he played swashbuckling adventurer Rick O’Connell
  • But it’s also the performance that may well earn him the sort of recognition he never received as a mainstream actor – with Fraser tipped to win an Oscar 

There’s a strange irony attached to Brendan Fraser’s potentially Oscar winning role in The Whale, director Darren Aronofsky’s poignant address to America’s obesity crisis. 

Here, the actor once famed for his rugged physique and brooding good looks is unrecognisable as dangerously overweight English teacher Charlie, a man whose health issues leave him disassociated from society and alienated by his own family. 

It’s a role that comes many years after his Hollywood career reached a box-office high in The Mummy, where he entertained millions as the swashbuckling, Indiana Jones inspired adventurer Rick O’Connell. 

Starring role: Brendan Fraser plays dangerously overweight English teacher Charlie in The Whale, a role that could win him an Academy Award for Best Actor in March 

But it’s also the one performance that may well earn him the sort of recognition he never received in the mainstream – with Fraser tipped to scoop Best Actor at the 95th Academy Awards in March. 

Now 54-years of age, the American star is enjoying a career renaissance that is owed in no small part to his undeniable talent, rather than the conventional good looks he freely admits are fading. 

Reflecting on his past reputation as one of the industry’s best looking actors, he told  The Telegraph: ‘I do know that it brought me to a point in my life when I needed to retreat. And I did.

Old times: It’s a role that comes many years after his Hollywood career reached a box-office high in The Mummy, where he entertained millions as the swashbuckling, Indiana Jones inspired adventurer Rick O’Connell (pictured with co-star Rachel Weisz)

‘I’m older now; I don’t look the way I did in those days, and I don’t necessarily want to. And I’m glad that the work I can do is based in an emotional reality that’s not my own life, but is one that I can strongly identify with.’ 

Fraser wore a fat-suit filled with dried beans to authenticate the aesthetic of loose flesh while playing 21-stone Charlie, an isolated middle-aged man whose morbid obesity puts him at serious risk of congestive heart failure. 

However he insisted the costume ‘wasn’t restrictive – I found it helpful, honestly, that it was so cumbersome. I learned that Charlie had to be an incredibly strong man to carry around that body, which I thought was kind of poetic.’

At peace: Now 54-years of age, the actor is enjoying a career renaissance that is owed in no small part to his undeniable talent, rather than the conventional good looks he freely admits are fading

Previously: Fraser’s once rugged physique earned him a string of Hollywood roles, among them the lead in George Of The Jungle (pictured)

Addressing his latest role during an appearance on Friday’s edition of Lorraine, the actor admitted that after a decades long film career, he doesn’t feel he has anything to prove anymore.

He said: ‘I have three kids, I know what it means to have all the love I ever need in my life and I have nothing to prove.

‘You make one [film] for fun, for money for prestige and if you’re lucky you get to make one at all and the fact I get to be a part of a film that’s hopefully changing some hearts and touches on weight bias. There’s harm to be done by the way we speak to each other.’

Opening up: Addressing his latest role during an appearance on Friday’s edition of Lorraine, the actor admitted that after a decades long film career, he doesn’t feel he has anything to prove anymore

Authentic: Fraser wore a fat-suit filled with dried beans to authenticate the aesthetic of loose flesh while playing 21-stone Charlie, an isolated and morbidly obese middle-aged man

The actor also spoke to Digital Spy about his role in The Whale, and admitted the awards buzz around him is ‘rewarding’.

He said: ‘I have a feeling of excited anticipation about what could happen. But I don’t know. No one does. 

‘I have an open mind, and I’m looking forward to finding out where this is going to take us. I’m glad it found us where we are now.’

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