Director Darren Aronofsky has a way of opening up performers to new emotional depths, explorations of inner pain that often seem to surprise even the actors themselves. So it has been with "The Whale," featuring a celebrated lead performance by Brendan Fraser.
In a recent interview for The Envelope podcast, Aronofsky said he didn't anticipate what he called the "Brenaissance," the outpouring of long-standing affection for Fraser. In the film, Fraser plays Charlie, a man whose weight has grown to some 600 pounds, putting his health at extreme risk. His main goal becomes to repair the relationship with his teenage daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), who has never forgiven Charlie for leaving her and her mother (Samantha Morton) for a man. Charlie struggles to make the most of the time he has left.
Q: You first saw "The Whale" onstage, and then you approached playwright Sam Hunter about turning it into a film. What drew you to it?
