Brendan Fraser embodied one of the most-discussed roles of 2022 in his comeback film The Whale, and when he was honored with Best Actor at the Critics Choice Awards, he delivered another emotional performance in his acceptance speech.
“I was in the wilderness, and I probably should have left a trail of breadcrumbs, but you found me,” Fraser said, thanking The Whale director Darren Aronofsky. “And like all the best directors, you merely just showed me where to go to get to where I needed to be.”
To a standing ovation, Fraser continued, “If you, like a guy like Charlie, who I played in this movie, in any way struggle with obesity or you just feel like you’re in a dark sea, I want you to know that if you too can have the strength to just get to your feet and go to the light, good things will happen.” Watch his remarks below.
In The Whale, Fraser plays a 600-pound recluse who attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Sadie Sink). The film has sparked discussions about its portrayal of fat people, including Fraser’s use of a prosthetic fat suit for the role, but it’s also been heralded as a welcome high-profile job for Fraser, who retreated from Hollywood in the early 2000s after he was allegedly groped by the former head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In fact, despite being nominated for an award this year, Fraser avoided the Golden Globes for this very reason.
Brendan Fraser’s acceptance speech for The Whale at the #CriticsChoiceAwards pic.twitter.com/jxQsEfQfKo
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 16, 2023