Brendan Fraser, 54, showed off his weight loss after losing the pounds he put on for his incredible film The Whale, at the BAFTA Tea Party in Beverly Hills, CA on Saturday. The talented actor posed on the red carpet of the event in a light gray suit and dark blue tie as well as black shoes. He also rocked a pair of glasses and gave a smile to cameras capturing the epic moment.
In addition to posing solo, Brendan posed with his gorgeous partner Jeanne Moore. She wore a long sleeveless red dress and had her long blonde hair down as she held onto his arm and flashed a big smile. She also held silver clutch purse and added light-colored pointy heels to her look.
Brendan’s BAFTA appearance comes after he made lasting impressions with his role of Charlie, a 600-pound English teacher who is looking to reconnect with his 17-year-old estranged daughter. The film is based on 2012 play written by Samuel D. Hunter, and Brendan had to gain weight and wear a fat suit to transform into the right size to play the character.
“I developed muscles I did not know I had,” he told journalists, including one for Variety, at a press conference in Venice in Sept., ahead of the movie’s world premiere. “I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed; it was like stepping off the dock onto a boat in Venice. That [sense of] undulating. It gave me appreciation for those whose bodies are similar. You need to be an incredibly strong person, mentally and physically, to inhabit that physical being.”
Darren Aronofsky, who directed The Whale, also explained why he chose Brendan to play the incredible part, even though he had been out of the public eye for a while. “It took me 10 years to make the movie and that’s because it took me 10 years to cast the film. Casting Charlie was a huge challenge for many different reasons,” he explained.
“I considered everyone — all types of different actors, every single movie star on the planet. But none of them ever really clicked,” he continued. “It just didn’t move me, or feel right. A couple years ago, I caught a trailer from a Brazilian movie, a low-budget [movie], and I saw Brendan in the trailer and a lightbulb went off. I hadn’t seen ‘Gods and Monsters’ or ‘George of the Jungle.’ Seeing him in there, it just clicked. I asked Brendan to come meet me…it just kept clicking.”
Brendan’s impactful role led to a nomination for a Golden Globe Award. Although he didn’t end up winning, the star never planned on going to the ceremony. “I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” he told GQ magazine last year, referring to a previous claim he made about being sexually assaulted by former HFPA president Philip Berk.