Brendan Fraser, whose career has included both meteoric success and relative obscurity, had perhaps his finest hour on Sunday, when he won the Academy Award for lead actor for his performance in “The Whale.”
“So this is how the multiverse appears!Fraser thanked his director, Darren Aronofsky, in his acceptance speech for “throwing me a creative lifeline.”
Fraser’s path to the Oscars began with a six-minute standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival last September for his transformative performance in Darren Aronofsky’s film.
Despite some controversy surrounding his casting as a 600-pound, suicidal, gay professor and the depiction of morbid obesity in the film (based on Samuel D. Hunter’s play), Fraser had won more than 20 lead actor awards from critics’ groups, including the Critics’ Choice Assn., and the most reliable Oscar precursor, the Screen Actors Guild Award.
Fraser has attributed his absence from the marquee to injuries sustained while filming his numerous action films; he has also claimed that eight-term HFPA president Philip Berk sexually assaulted him. (Berk has denied the accusation, as has the actor’s unanswered question about whether the Golden Globes had blacklisted him. Berk was later expelled from the organisation after it was revealed that he had sent an email labelling Black Lives Matter a “racist hate movement,” prompting NBC to call for his removal.)
Meanwhile, Fraser swept the American televised film acting awards this season — except for the Globes, which went to Austin Butler’s acclaimed performance as the King of rock ‘n’ roll in “Elvis.” Fraser had previously stated that he would “not participate” in the Globes ceremony.
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