Regardless, Fraser received another ridiculously lengthy standing ovation at the BFI London Film Festival screening of “The Whale.” This latest one is up there, in terms of passionate applause, with the other ones he received at TIFF and Venice. Edgar Wright was in attendance and tweeted: “At the screening of Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Whale’ I’ve never seen a more rapturous reception to an actor at LFF than when Brendan Fraser stepped onstage. This is before they saw the film. Afterwards, he could have crowdsourced out and be handed the Oscar on the Southbank.” Fraser’s performance in “The Whale” is solid, I guess. However, let’s be real here, the buzz for Fraser is absolutely being driven by the infectious narrative behind it. Fraser’s gone through a lot, with many ups and downs, and he’s a survivor. Everyone is rooting for him because he’s a genuinely nice guy who got sucked up dry by this toxic industry. The “Brendan Fraser for Best Actor” narrative began way before anybody had actually seen “The Whale.” If his performance was actually a total knockout, then we’d already be saying that he’s a cinch to win the Oscar. But it’s not and we’re not really saying that right now. There’s a real possibility that Austin Butler or Colin Farrell might win. An email I received from an Oscar pundit this afternoon: My reply is this — Everything he wrote is possible. Fraser is obviously a lock for Best Actor, but will he win? That’s another story. I find there are many fans of Austin Butler’s performance. Colin Farrell has a nice narrative going as well. Fraser is obviously up there. However, I’m sorry but “The Whale” can’t be a top six contender for Best Picture. The whole film is basically the Brendan Fraser show, plain and simple. It might sneak into the final 10 nominees, I’ll give it that, but its stagey nature, not to mention wooden screenplay, are a turnoff. It has a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on a hefty 63 reviews) and 64 on Metacritic. Those aren’t really top six numbers, sorry. Contribute Hire me
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