“Release Date and Overview of Brendan Fraser’s ‘The Whale’ in the UK”

Brendan Fraser’s new film The Whale is creating quite the buzz (Picture: AP)

The Whale, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Mummy trilogy actor Brendan Fraser, is out this month.

The film has created quite the buzz in Hollywood, as it marks Brendan’s award-studded comeback after being pulled from what he described as years in ‘the wilderness’.

During his heartfelt acceptance speech on winning the best actor Critics’ Choice Award for his role in The Whale earlier this month, an emotional Brendan said the movie was about ‘finding the light in a dark place’.

The 54-year-old actor rose to fame in the 1990s for his roles in The Mummy trilogy and George of the Jungle before disappearing off the grid for many years.

The Looney Tunes actor was in and out of hospital for around seven years enduring a partial knee replacement, a vocal cord repair operation, as well as other surgeries, all apparently caused by overwork.

But he’s back in cinemas in 2023, and with style too, as the actor recently received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of reclusive teacher, Charlie, in The Whale.

Brendan stars in The Whale alongside Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room after Brendan’s Critics’ Choice Awards speech (Picture: Getty Images)

When is The Whale released in the UK?

The Whale is released on February 3 in UK cinemas.

The trailer shows Brendan’s character Charlie visibly distressed as he grapples with fatherhood after he lost a friend and gained a lot of weight.

What is The Whale about?

The Whale is a fictional story written by Samuel D Hunter about a reclusive, obese English teacher, Charlie, who desperately tries to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie, played by Sadie.

Who is in the cast with Brendan Fraser?

Sadie Sink, 21, who plays Max Mayfield in teen supernatural drama Stranger Things, stars as Brendan’s character Charlie’s daughter.

Downsizing actor Hong Chau fills the best friend role, Liz, for which she was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar.

Insidious actor Ty Simpkins, 21, and Minority Report superstar Samantha Morton, 45, also appear in The Whale.

Stranger Things star Sadie Sink stars alongside Brendan in The Whale (Picture: Getty Images)

Did Brendan Fraser gain weight for The Whale?

Brendan wore a 330lb fat suit for his role as Charlie in The Whale, and has explained how it was made to look so realistic – even as it was made during socially-distanced Covid times.

Without physical access to Brendan, Charlie’s body was created ‘virtually’ by make-up artist Adrien Morot, who scanned the actor digitally with an iPad, and then ‘printed appliances that a mould could be made from’, thus skipping the process of ‘compounding an sculpting’.

But that doesn’t mean the job wasn’t ‘physically demanding’.

Speaking on Lorraine, Brendan explained: ‘It was a rule that this make-up and costume would obey the laws of physics and gravity, be appropriately cumbersome so that there was less to affect in the performance.

‘So often we’ve seen weight gain costuming that is really just a silhouette or a Halloween costume, with a fit actor in something that’s cotton padding, and it’s in service of a one-note joke or to vilify a character in a way that’s unfair.’