There aren’t really too many more deserving people in Hollywood for this award. Brendan Fraser’s heroic comeback to the big screen ended last night in victory as he won Best Lead Actor for his performance in The Whale at the 2023 Oscars!
Like I said in the intro, there really aren’t many in Hollywood who deserve this award more than Brendan Fraser.
Not only has he starred and contributed in some of the most impactful action-adventure, comedy, and romantic-comedy movies of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s (ex: The Mummy franchise, Blast From The Past, George of The Jungle, etc.), but he also has been one of the few authentic, genuine, and decent actors to have ever come out of Hollywood.
Thus, it makes it even more sad that Fraser was effectively ostracized and blacklisted from Hollywood during the mid 2000’s as he suffered an alleged sexual assault by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press (the group that runs the Golden Globes) Philip Berk, he needed multiple surgeries from injuries sustained from filming The Mummy that prevented him returning as an action star (causing all the major studios to turn to new actors), and he had a messy divorce with his ex-wife in 2008 that drained his finances and sent him spiraling into depression.
Simply put, Fraser’s career was over in Hollywood as he was not only left behind by the major movie studios for newer, healthier, and younger actors, but he also was “persona non grata” in many Hollywood circles.
Well, that would have been the case if it wasn’t for The Whale director Daren Aronofsky and movie studio A24.
Going out on a limb, Aronofsky and A24 took a chance on Fraser and gave him the lead role of Charlie, a mortally obese English professor, in The Whale. Now, I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty of The Whale’s plot as that’s another article for another day, but I will say Charlie’s complexities and somewhat unrealistic circumstances were masterfully portrayed by Fraser.
In a role so different from his days as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy, George in George of the Jungle, and Adam Webber in Blast From The Past, Fraser was able to get across the regret, sadness, depression, and sliver of hope for redemption from what many would consider a burden of a human.
I do have to say that some of the background character details of Charlie and the rest of the cast’s story felt a little too contrived at times (ex: Charlie not wanting to get lifechanging surgery due to financial costs, even though he has $120k in a bank account, a runaway, Thomas, a thieving church runaway, still preaching to Charlie despite being “unsatisfied” as a door-to-door minister, etc.) for me to fully get devoted into the film, but that doesn’t mean I think this was an underserving film for the Academy Awards.
Obviously, Fraser’s performance stole the show and was the driving-reason as to why it was nominated for 3 Oscars, though I’m not sure it would have gotten the two other nominations if it was made in a stronger movie season. I mean, there’s a reason why Rotten Tomatoes critics only gave it a 65% and IMDb users a 7.8/10.
Personally, I’d give it a score closer to the IMDb users (maybe a 7.2 or 7.4), though I can see why the critics gave it a less favorable review.
Nevertheless, these overall movie complaints shouldn’t detract from Fraser’s brilliant comeback performance in the slightest. In fact, it should only add to it as he not only proved he’s a phenomenal actor worthy of Academy Awards and SAG award wins (Fraser also won the SAG award for this role), but he is also capable of leading a movie…and even a franchise.
Congratulations, Brendan Fraser, your determination, perseverance, and undeniable internal strength came through the screen on this film as you transformed a rather unrealistic character (on paper) into an emotional, relatable protagonist. And that’s more than worthy of an Oscar for Best Lead Actor!
Images Source: Featured Image: (A24) (The Whale | Official Trailer HD | A24 – YouTube)
