Brendan Fraser Describes How He Prepared for 'The Whale'—"It's Really Very Similar to Doing Any Kind of Action Movie"

The actor divulged some of his prep work during a talkback following a recent screening in NYC.

The Brenaissance reigns strong!

Brendan Fraser, playwright Samuel D. Hunter, and producer Jeremy Dawson walked out to a round of rousing applause following a New York City screening of The Whale on Wednesday, Jan. 11, attended by Parade, where the three sat down to discuss the Darren Aronofsky-directed film that's been making waves since hitting the festival circuit last year.

They discussed everything from the "privilege" Fraser felt watching Sadie Sink perform on set every day to the preparation it took to begin filming in the first place, from readings to Covid precautions to prosthetic applications and all that falls in between, and it's clear a lot effort—both physical and mental—went into it all around.

The group shared that the film, which is adapted from Hunter's stage play of the same name, has been several years in the making. It took about ten years in total, with Aronofsky suggesting Fraser for the part about eight years ago. They rented a theater where Fraser and Sink both came in for a reading "before she was on billboards in Tokyo," Hunter joked. "We did this reading, and I just remember, it was right before the pandemic hit, like a week before the pandemic hit, and I remember it was the first time I had ever heard the screenplay read, and Brendan had it in his body and his soul so deeply. I mean, 15 minutes in, I think I looked at Darren and it was just like, 'Oh my God,' and years later, here we are."

The cast and crew were also afforded a three week rehearsal process, which, according to Fraser, isn't the norm. When discussing the approach to filming, he shared that they had the "good fortune" of production company A24 granting them the lengthy rehearsal process. "It sounds funny, but, you know, on the day, actors normally show up, look at the sides, scratch their heads, and kind of go, 'Oh, you know what would be cool...' But we made all of our mistakes and all of our discoveries and all our bonding and everything before we even showed up on this submarine crew-like environment in a two-bedroom apartment that's Charlie's world."

And as far as his character goes? "The approach is really, really very similar to doing any kind of action movie," he reveals. "There's a kinetic point of attack on those characters. I believe it has to start from a center of gravity. How you sit, how you stand, you know, all the ABC, 123's of acting, which is very, very important when doing, you know, broad comedies or action pictures, if you will. And this is really no different to me."

He continues: "I clearly am wearing a lot of apparatus and it's appropriately cumbersome, which was helpful to underline the authenticity of how Charlie presents. The makeup is clearly elaborate, you know, a prosthetic process that went for hours and hours each morning, touchups on set requiring patience." He jokingly goes on to call himself a "good horse," over the immense work it takes to get ready to film each day. "I can stand there. You can pat me, patch me up, water me, I won't kick you."

Related: Fans React to Brendan Fraser's Transformation Into a 600-Lb Man For New Movie

He later described the prosthetic process as something along the lines of a pitstop on the racetrack. "Putting Charlie together, sometimes, was like being in the cockpit of a race car; people to hover around doing their jobs," he says.

But, all of that is "playing the man from the outside in," which is not what is really important. "[It] was my job to do [it] from the inside, out. Looking further, I digress, but I think that Charlie's probably the most heroic character I ever have played, for his courage, his flaws; he doesn't need to connect with his daughter. My approach was a little more bookish in learning what I'm doing, studying," he explains.

Despite all of his preparations, he still required some help on set. They took into consideration the limited mobility that Fraser shared with his character while wearing the prosthetics, adding boltholes to the set to make it easier for him to move from place to place.

At one point, Dawson joked about how Fraser would need to raise his hand and ask, "Can somebody take me there?" whenever he needed a bathroom break, but he "had this really muscular PA called Ben to help [him] stand and sit where [he] needed to be" to make sure he could navigate each day, because even just getting up felt "nerve-wracking."

Even if we wouldn't classify The Whale as an action flick, it still takes a stunt coordinator to ensure something as seemingly simple as a fall is done safely. "When Charlie takes his tumble, Darren shot it like an action sequence. A stunt coordinator, breakaway furniture, limited takes..." Fraser says.

And, despite being the first on set and the last to leave each day—aside from, perhaps, the makeup artist— Hunter shares that "not a single time did [Fraser] act without complete kindness and generosity to everybody on set," calling it "a pretty incredible thing to witness."

The Whale is playing in theaters now.