Darren Aronofsky (The fountain, Requiem for a dream) is working with A24 for the first time on a new film called The whale.
The film will be an adaptation of playwright Samuel D. Hunter2012’s eponymous stage play with Hunter on board to write the screenplay. Brendan Fraser (The Mummy, Doom Patrol) is attached to star.
Discussing Film first announced the news of Aronofsky’s next film, and Deadline later revealed that Fraser would star. Here is a description of the story:
On the outskirts of Mormon country, Idaho, a six-hundred-pound hermit hides in his apartment and eats himself to death. Desperate to reconnect with his long estranged daughter, he reaches out to her, only to find a fiercely sharp tongue and wildly unhappy teenager. Generous and fiercely funny, The Whale tells the story of a man’s last chance at salvation and to find beauty in the most unexpected places.
“Adapting my play into a screenplay was a real love affair for me,” Hunter said in a statement. ‘This story is very personal and I’m very grateful that it will have the chance to reach a wider audience. I’ve been a fan of Darren’s ever since I saw it Requiem for a dream when I was a freshman and wrote my first plays, and I’m so grateful he’s bringing his unique talent and vision to this film. ‘
Fraser spent the late 1990s and early 2000s as one of the next major men in the film industry, just because his body began to break him down due to injuries he sustained. He also alleges that he was sexually assaulted, which led to him being withdrawn. But over the past few years, he has slowly re-established himself as a fascinating screen presence working on programs such as The Affair, Confidence, en Doom Patrol, and landed a role in an upcoming Steven Soderbergh film. The whale will be one of his most notable films of the past ten years.
Aronofsky directed The wrestler and Black Swan in 2008 and 2010 respectively and those one-two-stroke films – both of which earned Oscar attention for their lead actors – are the last time he has directed anything remotely commercially. 2014’s Noah was an unconventional narrative of the biblical story of the ancient flood, while 2017’s ma! (which by the way absolutely rules) was the equivalent of being thrown into the deep end of a pool of chaos as we followed Jennifer Lawrence’s character through the world’s most horrific house party. The idea that Aronofsky is making a film about a 600-pound hermit who eats himself to death would be very anti-commercial in Hollywood’s eyes, but no matter how it turns out, I’m glad the director’s still has a big swing over this stage of his career.
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