New Delhi: Brendan Fraser, who secured his first-ever Oscar nomination this year for ‘The Whale’ was full of emotions as he finally took home the highly-coveted Oscar for Best Actor In a Leading Role- Male for his role as Charlie in ‘The Whale’. The journey has definietly not been easy for him so when his name was announced, he exclaimed, "so this is what the multiverse looks like!"
"I`m grateful to Darren Aronofsky for throwing me a creative lifeline and hauling me aboard the good ship `The Whale,`" he continued the speech. "That was written by Samuel D. Hunter who is our lighthouse. Gentleman, you laid your whale-sized hearts bare so we could see into your souls like no one else could. It is my honour to be named alongside you in this category. I want to tell you that only whales can swim at a depth of talent of Hong Chau."
Fraser also spoke about the hard times he faced and how things haven’t been easy for him. "I started in this business 30 years ago, things didn`t come easy to me but there was a facility that I didn`t appreciate at the time until it stopped. I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgement. It couldn`t be done without my cast. It`s been like I`ve been on a diving expedition and the air on the line to the surface is being watched over by some people in my life like my sons," he added.
Fraser won the Academy Award for his performance as Charlie, a housebound 600-pound English teacher attempting to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter, Sadie Sink.
According to Variety, the 54-year-old actor maintained a commanding lead throughout the awards season, beginning with a 14-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. Fraser also won the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Critics` Choice Awards. When asked about the Oscar buzz at the Variety TIFF studio back in the beginning, Fraser quoted author Herman Melville, saying, "I know not all that may come, but come what may, I will go to it laughing."
Fraser was nominated in the Best Actor category alongside Austin Butler from Elvis, Colin Farrell from The Banshees of Insherin, Paul Mescal from Aftersun and Bill Nighy from Living. Truly if this is not a path-breaking comeback, then what is?
