Guy Branum has called out the casting of Brendan Fraser in Darren Aronofsky's latest movie, The Whale.
Branum - who stars as Henry in the new Nicholas Stoller movie, Bros - spoke to PRIDE about the choice to cast Fraser in The Whale.
In Fraser's latest outing, the 53-year-old Mummy star plays Charlie, a 600lb gay man who is making a last-ditch effort to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter (played by Sadie Sink) as his health continues to deteriorate.
Following screenings of the movie, critics have praised Fraser's Oscar-worthy performance, but other have also warned viewers that the movie's story could be incredibly triggering - with entertainment journalist Katie Rife tweeting that the movie "reinforces the notion that fat people are objects of pity who have brought their suffering upon themselves through lack of coping skills."
Another person to criticize the flick is Branum, who told PRIDE that he has "real problems" with Aronofsky'schoice to "cast a straight actor who is not very fat, and [who] used prosthetics to represent fatness".
"I think it allows people to talk about that character as an object in a way that wouldn’t be possible if it were an actual fat person who you had to look in the eyes," Branum added.
Branum also personally took issue with the movie's subject, adding: "I think that the source material of The Whale is problematic. I think that it’s trying to use extreme fatness as a metaphor for gay pain.
"And as an actual fat gay person, I feel like my life doesn’t need to be a metaphor for somebody else’s pain."
Branum is not the only actor to call out Fraser's casting in the movie.
Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese, 44, spoke with People and asked why "other big queer guys" were dismissed for the role.
"I love Brendan Fraser, [so] I'm very conflicted," he said. "Seeing him get up so modest in Venice and have that moment, I was very happy for him. He's a lovely man. And it's great. But why? Why go up there and wear a fat suit to play a 400lb queer man?"
The Bully actor also told the publication that "actors like me and my colleagues" would "jump at" the opportunity to play such a role.
"To finally have a chance to be in a prestige film that might be award-nominated, where stories about people who look like us are being told? That's the dream."
"So when they go time and time again and cast someone like Brendan Fraser, me and the other big queer guys, we're like, 'What the?' We can't take it!" Franzese added.
Franzese also said that the director, Darren Aronofsky, was one of his favorites, explaining that he would have "loved to have read for this," explaining: "I mean, who knows more about being an obese queer man than an obese queer man?"
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