Fallen into relative oblivion in recent years, the actor is by all accounts, unrecognizable in the body of Charlie, a man weighing more than 250 kilos who can no longer leave his home and barely manages to get up from his sofa. .
Adapted from a play by Samuel D. Hunter, Darren Aronofsky's film ("Requiem for a dream", "Black Swan", which won an Oscar for Natalie Portman) recounts the reunion of this English teacher and of his daughter with whom he cut ties.
She is played by the young star of the series "Stranger Things", Sadie Sink.
American director Darren Aronofsky, February 25, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California © Michael Tran / AFP / Archives
The role of Charlie was not entrusted to an actor suffering from obesity, rarely put forward in the film industry, but to the 54-year-old ex-star, even if it means making him wear imposing prostheses during shooting.
Giving hope in its first sequences of a reflection rarely shown in the cinema on the perception of obesity and the way people who suffer from it feel it, the film multiplies the nods to the whale of "Moby Dick" and plays the map of sentimentality.
There remains the performance of Brendan Fraser, chosen after ten years of hesitation by director Darren Aronofsky, after having thought of "all the stars on the planet", said the latter at the Venice Film Festival, where the film was in competition in 2022.
During filming, "I learned to move in a totally new way, I developed muscles that I didn't even know I had," added the actor.
Brendan Fraser and Sadie Sink, November 29, 2022 in New York © Jamie McCarthy / Getty/AFP/Archives
An experience that changed his view of obesity: "I learned that you had to be an incredible person physically and mentally to inhabit such a body".
The role of a lifetime, bluntly believes the actor with a rocky career: "It was the most complicated role I've ever played. Charlie is by far the most heroic character I've ever played. never performed".
© 2023 AFP