Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” had its first Los Angeles screening over the weekend. Obviously, Brendan Fraser got another standing ovation from the crowd. It’s become the go-to thing to do at this point at every ‘Whale’ screening with the cast and crew.
The film is being released in four weeks and still no trailer. I’m told there won’t be one released this week either. Take that whichever way you want to, but I have my suspicions why A24 is withholding it.
Last week, I called “The Whale” the “most famous movie with one screenshot to its name.” Just one photo of Fraser’s 600-pound character exists and it’s a close-up of his very round face. That’s it. No trailer, no clips, and, obviously, no full-body still of the character’s frame. That’s basically been the marketing for “The Whale.”
It’s the only big awards player with no trailer. As I mentioned last week, and it seems clearer to me now, with every ensuing day, that the people over at A24 are absolutely frightened by the reaction Brendan Fraser’s “fat suit” might garner once a trailer is released. It’s all about the inevitable “fat shaming” discourse that will occur when the trailer pops online.
Whatever trailer A24 releases, it’ll have be a smartly edited one that will need to deviate attention away from the 600-pound gay man narrative and straight into the performance itself, which is quite good. I’m not sure how that can be achieved, but I’m absolutely looking forward to A24’s game plan. They need to release something, right?
Back in January, at the Sundance Film Festival, a bidding war emerged over Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite.” A24, Netflix, Searchlight, Focus Features, and NEON among the studios in the mix.