Brendan Fraser insists he ‘made peace with himself’ after ‘retiring’ from mainstream Hollywood

There’s an uncanny irony in Brendan Fraser’s potentially Oscar-winning role in The Whale, director Darren Aronofsky’s moving speech about America’s obesity crisis.

Here, the actor once famous for his rugged physique and haunting good looks is unrecognizable as dangerously overweight English teacher Charlie, a man whose health problems cut him off from society and alienate him from his own family. .

It’s a role that comes many years after his Hollywood career peaked at the box office in The Mummy, where he entertained millions as Indiana Jones-inspired adventurer Rick O’Connell.

But it’s also the one performance that could well earn him the kind of recognition he never received as a mainstream actor, with Fraser up for Best Actor at the 95th Academy Awards in March.

Now 54-years-old, the actor is enjoying a career renaissance that’s due in no small part to his undeniable talent, rather than the conventional good looks he freely admits is fading, a fact he’s more than happy about. to accept.

Reflecting on his past reputation as one of the most handsome actors in the industry, he said The Telegraph: ‘I know it led me to a point in my life where I needed to retire. And I did it.

‘I’m older now; I don’t look like I did in those days, and I don’t necessarily want to. And I’m glad that the work I get to do is grounded in an emotional reality that isn’t my own life, but is one I can strongly identify with.’

Fraser wore a fat suit filled with dried beans to authenticate the loose meat aesthetic while playing 21 Stone Charlie, an isolated middle-aged man whose morbid obesity puts him at serious risk of congestive heart failure.

However, he insisted that the costume was “not restrictive; I found it helpful, honestly, that it was so cumbersome.” I learned that Charlie had to be an incredibly strong man to carry that body, which I thought was a bit poetic.

Addressing his latest role during an appearance on Friday’s edition of Lorraine, the actor admitted that after a decades-long film career, he feels he no longer has anything to prove.

He said: ‘I have three children, I know what it means to have all the love I need in my life and I have nothing to prove.

‘You make one [film] for fun, for money for prestige and if you’re lucky you get to make one and the fact that I get to be a part of a movie that is hopefully changing a few hearts and touching weight bias. Hurt can be done by the way we talk to each other.

The actor also spoke digital spy about his role in The Whale, and admitted that the awards buzz around him is “rewarding.”

He said: ‘I have a sense of excited anticipation for what could happen. But I do not know. No one does.

‘I have an open mind, and I’m looking forward to where this will take us. I’m glad you found us where we are now.