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Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Jake Massey
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Brendan Fraser has opened up about the most 'heroic' and 'physical' role he has ever played.
To the delight of fans, we are currently in the midst of the so-called 'Brenaissance', with the much-loved actor back on our screens after spending years out of the limelight.
With a number of projects now in the pipeline, the George of the Jungle star has spoken out about the most heroic and physical part he has ever played.
You might think, having played the leading roles in a number of blockbusters, that it would be one of these characters he'd pick out for top spot - but you'd be wrong.
Speaking to GQ, he said: "Maybe I wasn't supposed to be doing stuff that was rough-and-tumble, fall down, go boom, all my career.
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"Harrison Ford still makes this joke. I hear him doing it, going, 'I get paid to fall down hard'. That’s his one-liner.
"And you know what, he's not wrong. I understand what it feels like to have that be your prime directive."
He went on to explain that his character Charlie, who he plays in the much-anticipated forthcoming Darren Aronofsky film The Whale, is 'the most physical role I've done'.
He continued: "I have beat s**t up and fallen down, been lit on fire and thrown against walls, and that's fine. That was okay. I liked that. I had fun.
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"Yeah, it put some chips in the paint, but I'm still here, damn it. But this was probably the most heroic character I've ever played."
The psychological drama sees 53-year-old Fraser star as morbidly obese English teacher Charlie, who is trying to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, played by Stranger Things' Sadie Sink.
At the film's UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival last month, Fraser told the PA news agency it was the 'most challenging role' he has ever played.
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"I think that Charlie is a real hero and I think he has a superpower too," he said.
"He's the man who can see the good in others, they can't see that in themselves. Tragically, he can't see it in himself, it takes his daughter to show him."
Fraser suffered a period of depression, and in 2018 he alleged he had been groped by Philip Berk, the former head of Golden Globes organiser the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).
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Berk denied the claim and an independent investigation concluded the encounter was 'inappropriate' but 'the exchange was not an intended sexual advance', according to the HFPA.
Now, to the delight of his adoring fans, Fraser is back in the game.
The Whale is in cinemas from 9 December.