Brendan Fraser says he felt ‘a sense of vertigo’ after removing 300-pound fat suit for ‘The Whale’

Brendan Fraser in “The Whale.A24

Brendan Fraser said that he felt “a sense of vertigo” when he removed his 300-pound fat suit while filming “The Whale.”

Fraser stars in the upcoming film as a 600-pound man called Charlie who tries to repair his relationship with his teenage daughter (Sadie Sink). Darren Aronofsky, the director, told Vanity Fair that Fraser carried the extra weight of 50 to 300 pounds with his prosthetic suit during filming depending on the scene.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fraser said during a press conference for the movie at Venice Film Festival that the movie gave him an “appreciation” for people with obesity.

“I think it’s poetic that the trauma he carries is manifest in the physical weight of his body,” Fraser said. “I needed to learn to absolutely move in a new way. I developed muscles I did not know that I had. I even felt a sense of vertigo, when at the end of the day all the appliances were removed, just as you would feel stepping off the boat onto the dock here in Venice — that undulating feeling.”

Brendan Fraser.Michael Tran/Getty Images

The 53-year-old actor continued: “And I say this because he gave me an appreciation for those whose bodies are similar because I learned that you need to be an incredibly strong person physically and mentally to inhabit that physical being. And I think that is Charlie, also.”

Fraser previously told Vanity Fair that wearing the fat suit was also uncomfortable.

“The torso piece was almost like a straight jacket, with sleeves that went on, airbrushed by hand, to look identical as would human skin, right down to the hand-punched hair,” Fraser said.

“The Whale” premiered Sunday at the Venice Film Festival and received a six-minute standing ovation.

According to Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, Fraser “sobbed” during the applause.

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