Brendan Fraser's The Whale Almost Starred James Corden

Brendan Fraser's Comeback Film 'The Whale' Almost Starred James Corden, 'The Late Late Show' Host Is Sorry About Losing The Role reflection.

Although the Mummy star's performance was considered Oscar-worthy, Brendan Fraser is hardly the lead in Whale, as James Corden will star. Based on the Samuel D. Hunter play of the same name, the movie follows Charlie, a 600-pound, middle-aged English teacher who left her and her for his now-deceased mother years ago. After teenage daughter, try to reconnect with her gay lover. The Whale is widely hailed as Fraser's comeback movie, mostly because of his critically acclaimed core performance, though the film almost saw a very different face.

In a recent interview with Deadline, James Corden revealed that he almost played The Whale instead of Brendan Fraser. The Late Late Show host explained that he was tapped to play Fraser's 600-pound English teacher, and that Nocturnal Animals' Tom Ford would direct, though the project ultimately fell through because Ford wanted more "full control" of the film. . While Corden admitted he felt he might be "too young" for the role, he also revealed that George Clooney was in talks to direct The Whale at one point, despite his desire to play As it turns out, the actual 600-pound weight of the unknown actor was "too much."

Why Fraser Was The Perfect Choice For The Whale

Interestingly, Darren Aronofsky opened up about his difficulties developing The Whale, saying he hit a creative block a decade ago before working on the Brazilian crime thriller Late Night Journey. " caught Fraser in the trailer, believing him to be the perfect choice for the role. Despite his huge success on the big and small screens with films like "Into the Woods," "Peter Rabbit," and "The Late Show," Corden has focused almost exclusively on comedy-type performances in which supporting eccentricities rather than Fascinating leads. Even Corden's only Golden Globe nomination for Ryan Murphy's "The Prom" has been met with a lot of disagreement over his perpetuation of gay stereotypes, and he's a straight guy playing a gay character only will make things worse.

Anti-genre casting is a risky decision that sometimes proves worthwhile in film, with Adam Sandler's manic turn in Uncut Diamonds, Tom Cruise's wicked performance in Collateral and Steve Carell in Horror works in Foxcatcher, etc. are proof of this. However, the number of failed attempts is about the same Contrast the actors with their normal types, as there have been successes with performances such as Vince Vaughn in Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho and Mark Wahlberg in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. While there's no clear timeline for when Corden was eyed to star in The Whale, he hasn't made any major forays into theatrical world throughout his film credits, making it hard to see him as a serious contender for the lead in Live.

Fraser, on the other hand, showed broad vision throughout his acting career, culminating in a starring role in The Whale, for which he won an Academy Award. Although Fraser is known to some for his performances in blockbusters such as The Mummy trilogy and Jungle George, Fraser has lent his talents to a number of more ordinary theatrical productions, namely 1998's Gods and Monsters, so he is considered not to be nominated for an Oscar with his co-stars Ian McKellen and Lynn Redgrave, but he always captures his various roles no matter the scale humanity and compassion. It's this attention to character detail that is so crucial to making Charlie's work in Whale, Fraser's Golden Globe nominations and Oscar buzz suggest he's the perfect choice to capture a character as sympathetic as he is.