Hong Chau Jokes Press with Brendan Fraser Is Like 'Traveling with a Member of the Beatles'
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Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Hong Chau and Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser certainly has no shortage of fans — and he can add his The Whale costar Hong Chau to the list!
Speaking with PEOPLE Thursday at the Palm Springs International Film Awards, Chau touched on celebrating Fraser, 54, as he accepted the Spotlight Award during the event.
"I'm just happy to be here presenting an award to Brendan. ... It's the start of award season and I want him to win all of the awards," says the actress, 43, who plays the caregiver to Fraser's character Charlie in The Whale. "So I'm just glad to be here at the start of it and to be a small part of it."
Asked what it has been like to see the overwhelming positive response to Fraser's performance in the film, Chau jokes to PEOPLE of their press tour, "It's been like traveling with a member of the Beatles to see the amount of adoration and love just thrown at him."
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John Phillips/Getty From L to R: Brendan Fraser, Hong Chau, Darren Aronofsky, Sadie Sink and Samuel D. Hunter
"People just love him," she continues. "They love him and I love him, but I just had no idea that people held him so close and so dear to their hearts."
Chau goes on to say her costar is "so deserving of" the love, "because he is genuinely the person you think he is, and everybody talks about what a nice guy he is. And I think that kind of overshadows what a great talent he is."
That's not to say Fraser's talent — and range — haven't been continually apparent to Chau, even in the earlier days of his film career.
"Even when he was doing George of the Jungle and The Mummy, he was also trying to do more dramatic and interesting roles like Crash and The Quiet American and Gods and Monsters," she says. "So I think for a long time, Brendan has been searching for a role that he could really sink his teeth into and show people what he could do, and I'm glad that he finally found it in The Whale."
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Brendan Fraser
Fraser's commitment to the role, in which he plays a 600-lb. man who reckons with the limits of his reclusive life over a period of five days, has earned him multiple award nods, including a Golden Globe nomination.
Speaking with PEOPLE on Thursday at the Palm Springs event, the actor said the praise he has received for his performance has "been gratifying" and "eye-opening."
"It has made me have a sense of accomplishment by way of seeing how this story is changing people's hearts and minds," Fraser continues. "That's gratifying, to say at least, and that kind of opportunity does not come along in this circus show of show business that we all play along with sometimes."
He adds, "But when it does, and it's material that's handled with care and the project comports itself in a way that's interesting and important, I feel very fortunate and lucky to be a part of it."
The Whale is in theaters now.
