The Whale's Darren Aronofsky And Samuel Hunter On Brendan Fraser's Surprising Performance [Exclusive Interview]

Awards season is firmly and inescapably upon us, with a packed field of contenders vying for attention from moviegoers and various voting bodies alike. But the Best Actor race feels to be all but a lock at this point thanks to "The Whale," the latest from A24, which features a career-redefining performance from Brendan Fraser. After months of merely reading about his transformative performance as a 600-pound man, the world at large will finally get to see the film for themselves very soon.

The movie was directed by Darren Aronofsky, of "Black Swan" and "Requiem for a Dream" fame, based on the play by Samuel Hunter. The story centers on a reclusive English teacher (Fraser) who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter (Sadie Sink). It's a simple premise, but it provides a showcase for the talents of those in the cast. Aronofsky had been trying to make the film for years, but couldn't land on someone to pull off the lead role. Then, one fateful day, the filmmaker saw a trailer for Fraser's little-seen film "Journey to the End of the Night," and it all clicked into place.

Now, the film feels like a lock for the Oscars, with Fraser the current favorite to win Best Actor. The internet has rallied behind Fraser and the "Brenaissance" that is coming along with it. I recently had the good fortune of not only seeing the movie at the Austin Film Festival, but speaking with both Aronofksy and Hunter following the screening. We discussed how Fraser came to the film, the challenges of adapting the play for the screen, whether or not Aronofksy is ever going to make a big-budget blockbuster, and much more.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Sam, for you, most people are going to discover this as a movie, but it did start as a play. Just because I think a lot of people aren't going to get the chance to see the play, what changed between the stage show and adapting it to a film?

Hunter: Very early on, before we even met for the first time, when I just knew that [Darren] had seen it and wanted to talk to me about it, I just assumed that he would want to do that traditional thing of opening it up, and finding different locations, and following different characters. I was nervous about that. I was, of course, willing to do it because I trust Darren. I was nervous about doing it, because I was like, "This story feels like it so wants to be just with Charlie." Without me saying anything, in one of our early meetings, he was like, "Let's keep it in the apartment." I knew that was the right choice, but it was also the difficult choice.

Aronofsky: It's a huge problem, just cutting to different scenes. We haven't discussed this ever before, but it's always a hard thing to keep people in a room in a play. That's one of the huge challenges of a playwright, I imagine. "Why are these actors all standing in the room together still?" But the fact that one character really doesn't have a physical ability to move too much helps with it.

Hunter: Yeah, exactly. Maybe other plays of mine could probably be opened up in that traditional way, but this one really doesn't want to be. Over many years and many conversations, we just found a more cinematic language. I think it was three, four years ago that the idea of the second bedroom came into play. Because in the play, it's just the living room. But then it was like, "Well, what if there's a second bedroom that is just the archeology of his time with Alan that's been carefully preserved and feels very different from the rest of the apartment?"

I love that, by the way, just the fact that was locked away, and then something forced him to end their world.

Aronofsky: For us, the chase scene of the movie is him trying to get the key.

Hunter: Exactly.

It adds a weird bit of action in the middle of the movie.

Hunter: In the play, Charlie says, "I think I need to call Ellie." But in the film, that's a silent scene that happens, and you see it in Brendan's eyes where he's like...

Aronofsky: Who did he say it to?

Hunter: To Liz, in one of the early Liz scenes. He's like, "I think I need to call Ellie –"

Aronofsky: She was against it.

Hunter: And she was against it. But in the movie, he makes that silent decision after Googling it, and you don't know what it is until, there she is.

Can I ask a really nerdy question that might just be me reading into things that aren't there?

Aronofsky: Of course.

I noticed when you open up the Bible, his name is Alan Grant. Was that a "Jurassic Park" reference accidentally or intentionally?

Aronofsky: Who is Alan Grant?

Alan Grant is Sam Neill's character in "Jurassic Park."

Hunter: Whoops.

Okay. So that was just me reading into it, okay.

Aronofsky: I think that probably happened on set. We were like, "We need a last name."

Hunter: I think somebody was like, "What is his last name?"

Aronofsky: That was the gift of having the writer. You don't have to leave it to the designers and stuff to just go, "Sam, what's his last name?" And then, somewhere in his "Jurassic Park" nightmare memory. That's funny, though.

Just to be clear, "Jurassic Park" is my favorite movie, so I would be the one to notice that. Weirdly connected to that, Ty Simpkins, who was in "Jurassic World," I did not know he was in this. I was delighted, because I think we haven't seen him for a minute. Now, he's like a grown person. But how did he come about? Because I thought he was phenomenal in it. I was really happy to see him.

Aronofsky: I was having a really hard time casting that role. It's actually one of the more difficult roles to play.

Hunter: Yes.

Aronofsky: Maybe just because it's an 18-year-old kid who you have to believe is innocent enough and blocked off in the world to be a true believer without any cynicism, but is also a liar, and has a secret. That's a pretty hard role when you think about the kind of contradictions of every line for any actor, especially a young actor, to figure out how to do. I was struggling with it, and there were a few actors who were in their later 20s that were good. But up against Sadie [Sink], it just felt wrong because there needed to be this romance between them of some type. It just seemed weird for an older [actor]. Also, you'd believe the older kid was young if they weren't next to Sadie by themselves. But when you put him next to Sadie, you go, "That guy's old."

We were dealing with that. Then, two weeks before we shot him, I wasn't cast and my casting director, Mary Vernieu, was like, "I got this one guy. I've been trying to get him on tape." I think Ty was stepping back a little bit. He was at the University of San Diego. He was studying theater, but he needed to take a break. He was going through a "grow-up, leaving the child star behind" [situation] and becoming the man actor that he is now, the grown-up actor. He got on tape. Then, I was like, "Let's get him in the room." He read with Sadie. Then, I think two days later, he was on a plane to Newburgh, New York and just jumped, thrown right into our rehearsals.

Hunter: Yeah. I worked with him a lot, too. There were many days where when you were shooting something, I would go with Ty in the office, and we'd read through the scenes together. He's said this publicly, so I'm not speaking out of turn, but he brings a lot of personal stuff to this world as well. Both Ty and I share a past with our faith, where we were desperately trying to negotiate our faith with the world that we saw in front of our eyes.

Aronofsky: Yeah.

Hunter: Ty brought a lot of that personal stuff to the performance, I think.