Brendan Fraser is gearing up for his latest role.
The 52-year-old is teaming up with director Darren Aronofsky to star as a “morbidly obese recluse” in “The Whale,” Variety reported on Tuesday.
The film, an adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s play, focuses on a 600-pound middle-aged man named Charlie who is attempting to reconnect with his 17-year-old daughter after he abandoned his family for a gay lover. After his partner passed away, Charlie turned to compulsive eating to cope with his grief.
According to the outlet, “The Whale” was critically acclaimed when it made its Off-Broadway debut in 2012. It won both the Drama Desk Award and the Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding play.
WHAT HAPPENED TO FORMER ‘MUMMY’ STAR BRENDAN FRASER?
Brendan Fraser has kept busy playing Cliff Steele in the TV series ‘Doom Patrol.’
(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
This will be Aronofsky’s first film since 2017’s “Mother!” starring Jennifer Lawrence, a commercial bomb. However, Aronofsky is also known for his other celebrated works, such as 2000’s “Requiem for a Dream” and 2010’s “Black Swan.”
In 2018, Fraser told GQ that Philip Berk, former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, groped him from behind in 2003. The actor admitted the incident “made me retreat. It made me feel reclusive.”
Fraser also told the outlet that the HFPA tried to get him to sign an agreement that stated he was joking about his claim. Berk has stated Fraser’s version of the incident was a “total fabrication.”
Following the report, the HFPA said it investigated Fraser’s claim.
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Brendan Fraser previously told GQ that years of taking on his own stunts took a physical toll on his body.
(Photo by Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images)
“[W]e conducted an internal review and then took it upon ourselves to commission an independent investigation into the matter to ensure impartiality,” the statement said. “We’ve shared the results of that investigation with Mr. Fraser, and again apologized, but also conveyed our need to abide by the investigation’s finding that the exchange was not an intended sexual advance.”
“The Mummy” star also told the outlet that doing his own stunts over the years took a toll on his body.
“I believe I probably was trying too hard, in a way that’s destructive,” Fraser recalled. “By the time I did the third ‘Mummy’ picture in China [in 2008] I was put together with tape and ice… I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily.”
Fox News’ Kathleen Joyce contributed to this report.