Brendan Fraser defends the use of a fat suit in The Whale after coming under criticism

Brendan Fraser has defended using a fat suit in upcoming movie The Whale, pointing out that he isn’t a ‘small man’.

Fans were delighted to learn that Fraser was making a comeback to the big screen in Darren Aronofsky’s drama flick, which centres on a 600lb man called Charlie as he tries to reconnect with his teenage daughter (played by Sadie Sink). 

And Fraser's performance has earned him not one, but two standing ovations, most recently on Tuesday (October 11) - you can see him getting emotional while being applauded here:

However, the decision to put Fraser in a fat suit caused some backlash online, with one critic even warning people not to go and see the movie. 

Katie Rife took to Twitter to discourage ‘fat people’ from watching the movie and warned that it could be ‘triggering’.

She wrote: "I can’t recommend in good conscience that fat people watch The Whale."

"I can’t recommend that skinny people watch it either, since it reinforces the notion that fat people are objects of pity who have brought their suffering upon themselves through lack of coping skills."

Now, Fraser has defended the use of a weight-increasing prosthetic - or fat suit as it’s more informally known - speaking to Newsweek on the red carpet recently he said: "I'm not a small man."

A24

"And I don't know what the metric is to qualify to play the role. I only know that I had to give as honest a performance as I can."

Fraser went on to say that he hopes the movie, and his performance, can help challenge people’s perceptions. 

He added: "I'm hopeful that we can change some hearts and minds at least in terms of how we think and feel about those who live with obesity."

"So often, those people are dismissed in our society, or the object of scorn and derision, and it's unfair to them. I believe that shaming people for that reason is almost the last domain of prejudice that we overlook, and I think we can do better to change that. "So I hope that this film might change some hearts and minds."

AGENZIA SINTESI / Alamy Stock Photo

Aronofsky has also defended the decision, saying that there was ‘no way’ they could have cast someone to play the role. 

He told Newsweek: "There's no way you can cast someone to play this job, so we had to use makeup to get there."

"Most of the people that are playing critique have not seen the film. So I welcome everyone to see the film because the film is about bringing empathy to characters that you don't expect to feel for."

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