See Brendan Fraser and Sadie Sink in Emotional First Trailer for The Whale

Brendan Fraser is back with an emotional new role.

The actor, 53, stars in the first trailer for The Whale, director Darren Aronofsky's adaptation of the 2012 stage play, in which Fraser becomes a 600-lb. reclusive English teacher named Charlie struggling to reconnect with his estranged daughter Ellie, played by Stranger Things' Sadie Sink. The drama also stars Hong Chau, Samantha Morton and Ty Simpkins.

The Whale premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where Fraser got emotional onstage during a standing ovation after the screening.

Fraser told The Hollywood Reporter why the role was meaningful for him to tackle at this point in his career.

RELATED: Dwayne Johnson Says 'Beautiful Ovation' for Brendan Fraser in The Whale Makes Him 'So Happy'

Courtesy of A24 Brendan Fraser in The Whale (2022)

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"My journey to where I am now has been to explore as many characters as I can. And this presented the biggest challenge to me, and that's what I wanted," he said. "By far and away, I think that Charlie is the most heroic man I've ever played because his superpower is to see the good in others and bring that out in them. And in that process, he's on his journey of salvation."

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He added, "I think it's poetic that the trauma he carries is manifest in the physical weight of his body. 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."

"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," said Fraser. "And I think that is Charlie, also."

The Whale is in theaters Dec. 9.