A24 really took its time with this one, but the indie outfit has finally debuted the trailer for director Darren Aronofsky’s hotly-anticipated drama The Whale, just one month before its release. Widely expected to serve as a career comeback vehicle for star Brendan Fraser, The Whale has been making waves on the fall festival circuit after premiering in Venice a couple of months ago.
In The Whale, Fraser plays Charlie, a morbidly obese English teacher who attempts to reconnect with his teenage daughter, while battling personal demons. The two became estranged after Charlie abandoned his family to pursue a life with his gay lover, who later died. Charlie took to eating to cope with his grief. The one-minute trailer functions as a mood piece, with barely any dialogue, no indication of what the plot is going to be, and none of those dramatic Oscar clip moments you’d expect to see in a film like this. Instead, we get quiet tableaus of Charlie’s universe — hallways, narrow rooms, windows to the outside world. The trailer — it’s a teaser, really — ends with close-ups of Fraser’s face, as Charlie asks, “Do you ever get the feeling people are incapable of not caring? People are amazing.”
The trailer also includes blurbs from rave reviews, all centered around Fraser’s acclaimed performance. He’s already a front-runner at next year’s Oscars, and The Whale is expected to be for him what Aronofsky’s The Wrestler was for Micky Rourke. Although it should be pointed out that Rourke didn’t ultimately win the Academy Award, even though the respect for his performance (and the reputation of that film) has only increased in subsequent years. Fraser would also hope to capitalize on this film's (presumed) success in the awards season, unlike Rourke.
Best known for The Mummy trilogy, George of the Jungle and Encino Man, Fraser’s most high-profile roles in the last few years arguably came in the DC series Doom Patrol and Danny Boyle’s FX show Trust. He also appeared in director Steven Soderbergh’s stacked No Sudden Move, and was cast as the antagonist in the now-canceled superhero film Batgirl. Next up, he'll be seen in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon.
Aronofsky broke onto the scene with the psychological drama Pi, and went on to direct modern classics such as Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan. He put his own stamp on big-budget Hollywood filmmaking with the Biblical epic Noah, and most recently directed the divisive horror film Mother!
Based on the play by Samuel D. Hunter, The Whale premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September, where it received a six-minute standing ovation and reduced Fraser to tears as he soaked it all in. The film had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in the same month. Also starring Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton and Ty Simpkins.
The Whale will be released in theaters on December 9. You can watch the trailer here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
You can read the film's official synopsis here:
From Darren Aronofsky comes The Whale, the story of a reclusive English teacher who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. Starring Brendan Fraser and based on the acclaimed play by Samuel D. Hunter.