Movies - TV
Darren Aronofsky Wasn't Ready To Direct The Whale Until He Met Brendan Fraser
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Darren Aronofsky's new film "The Whale," based on the play by Samuel D. Hunter, has its positives and negatives, but what is agreed upon is the power of Brendan Fraser's performance as Charlie. The casting of Fraser was a wise choice and, according to an interview with Empire, Aronofsky said, “I was looking for a reason to get up in the morning. Someone to work with that pumped me up.”
According to the Empire article, Aronofsky saw Hunter's play off-Broadway way back in 2012 and immediately began entertaining ideas of adapting it to film. Aronofsky and Hunter had begun a screenplay, working out its core ideas and brainstorming who should play the role of Charlie, but no actor manifested, until he saw Fraser in “Journey to the End of Night.”
It wouldn't be until years later that Aronofsky would see a preview for Eric Eason's low-budget crime movie and realize that Fraser was the ideal man for the role. Aronofsky said, “He was off the radar, but suddenly I saw him, and was like, 'Oh, that's an idea.' [...] Movie stars are movie stars for a reason. [...] There's a fire inside them. Brendan was the first actor that just got me like ... it was a eureka moment.”