At the 95th Academy Awards, Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor award for his outstanding performance in the movie "Whale." In the film, Brandon Fraser portrays a high school English teacher named Charlie. He left his family in his youth to be with his partner, but after her unfortunate death, he struggled with pain and guilt, leading to excessive eating and an increase in his weight to 272 kilograms. In the final moments of his life, he attempted to repair his relationship with his daughter.
The movie "Whale" is an adaptation of the semi-autobiographical play of the same name written by playwright Samuel D. Hunter. Originally a stage play, it premiered on Broadway in 2012. Director Darren Aronofsky, known for films like "Requiem for a Dream" and "Black Swan," was one of the audience members at the premiere and was deeply moved by the play. He decided to adapt it into a film.
Samuel D. Hunter is a playwright who has recently successfully transitioned into a screenwriter. In the film adaptation of his play "The Whale" and the recently re-staged play "A Bright New Boise," he explores a poignant truth about life, which became a pivotal point in his successful transition.
Several years ago, while riding a New Jersey Transit bus back home, Samuel D. Hunter had a sobering realization: "I think I need to accept the fact that my life might not be very exciting." On that day, he was teaching a writing class at Rutgers University and had asked his students to create works with authenticity. This poignant truth was one of the pieces written by a student.
This statement continued to linger in his mind and eventually found its way into his sixth play, "The Whale," which was adapted into a film of the same name directed by Darren Aronofsky a decade later. It showcased Brendan Fraser's remarkable performance and earned him the Best Actor award at the 95th Academy Awards.
Samuel D. Hunter
Hunter, at the age of 17, worked at Walmart, an experience he melded with his characters to craft lively and witty plays. This explains why his scripts are replete with acerbic, humorous dialogue.
"My scripts are filled with autobiographical elements," Hunter confessed. "Although I've never directly written an autobiography, every work is infused with deeply personal emotions."
"The Whale" may be his most introspective work. The script was born from the kind of "ordinary" life he was teaching his students. He said, "Initially, the only thing I related to was that I was teaching expository writing and struggling to connect with my students. So, I began writing a writing teacher named Charlie, but he wasn't quite what I expected. I was writing a character ten to fifteen years older than me but thinking of him as ten to fifteen years younger. This was my first experience of self-adjustment."
"As a gay man, my life hasn't been easy. If this were ten or fifteen years ago, my situation would have been even more challenging. I've struggled with issues of alcoholism and depression, and I've wondered if I could overcome them. Without these opportunities, I could have ended up like the characters in my novels."
In adapting the film "The Whale," Hunter transformed Charlie into a reclusive, morbidly obese teacher who taught online and concealed his obese figure by turning off his camera during video classes. This mirrors Hunter's own struggles with weight issues until his thirties.
"When I was in high school," Hunter recalled, "I attended a Christian homeschool for over four years until my LGBTQ identity was exposed, and then I transferred to a public school. But this experience had a profound impact on me. I've always been curious about the sacred and had a strong faith in God. However, this experience also made me deeply aware that such faith came at the cost of people like me and Charlie. It's a harsh reality.
"What's interesting is that in 2010, 'Whale' was a provocative stage play, and now in 2023, it has become a provocative film," he continued. "In modern society, the usual way of dealing with religion is often to break free from it, escape it, or broaden one's perspective to see a wider world. While that does happen at times, I believe there are thousands of people who choose to remain within their faith, despite the contradictions it presents because religion plays a foundational organizational role in their lives. The more we don't shy away from these stories, the better we can understand our current situation and the broader culture."
Director Darren Aronofsky had no fear of "Whale." In 2012, when he first read the script, he felt like he was reading a film. "We started talking about making a film, and that was a decade ago," Hunter recalled. "He never considered bringing in other writers, and he never considered deviating from the core framework of the original script. There are very few directors who do that. Perhaps he's the only one."
However, when director Aronofsky finally edited the film, it surprised his writer Hunter. The last few minutes of the movie are a memory scene, showing a family's happy moments on the beach. "It's not like Darren hid this ending; I think he may have just forgotten to tell me. I really love this ending. To me, the memory scene shows a family together, and it's also the moment when Charlie is preparing to make a significant decision, as he stares out at the sea."
Last summer, when "Whale" had its global premiere at the Venice Film Festival, the film received a standing ovation for 10 minutes. After that, Hunter and the creative team participated in an international roundtable discussion made up entirely of European journalists. When a journalist from Poland said, "All the reviews say your film is very Christian," Aronofsky was very surprised and exclaimed, "What?" However, Hunter acknowledged, "That's right, I think the core values of this story are about race, redemption, forgiveness, and human dignity, which are the core themes I've always been concerned with."
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