One film that is quickly falling off prediction charts is Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” which, all of a sudden, has a 63 on Metacritic? I didn’t expect that. When did this happen?
Aronofsky’s film peaked a few months ago at #6 on the Gold Derby charts, it is now at #9. It might be out of the top ten by the end of the month. If you’ve been following this site then it’s not the least bit surprising.
The film is being released this Friday with basically one sad-sack excuse for a trailer and one poster, with that much-used extreme close-up of Brendan Fraser’s mug.
I’m starting to think a Best Picture nomination is turning into a longshot. Some pundits are also putting Austin Butler and Collin Farrell ahead of Fraser in their Best Actor predictions. Then again, the narrative is indeed infectious and too hard to resist for many voters.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the momentum and buzz this film has been getting is purely based on a strong Brendan Fraser comeback narrative, which started with a GQ interview in 2018, and videos of film fest standing ovations that went viral. Ads for “The Whale” have even been using these viral videos instead of showing more footage of the film.
The “Brenaissance” is a total media-driven construct. The entire industry wants Fraser to succeed, he’s milked it every step out of the way and he’ll probably get an Oscar nomination for his fine-as-it-goes performance.