Darren Aronofsky on The Whale, casting Brendan Fraser and his debut film Pi

Director Darren Aronofsky sat down with Tom Power during TIFF 2022 to talk about the difficulty of casting the lead in his latest film, The Whale, and why Brendan Fraser was perfect for the part.
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[@jakereflected]

i went to see this movie then two day later i went and watched it again. i couldn’t stop thinking about the dialogue and overall message it was portraying so i had to go see it again. such an amazing film.

[@bart170]

I feel the exact same.

[@untitledmonster]

Aside from Darren's obvious brilliance, Tom Power is one of the finest interviewers.

[@rhinocore]

Say what you want about Aronofsky (I generally love his films), but you cannot deny that he has a knack for getting exceptional performances from his actors.

[@CannibalWHORE22]

I feel even a not so good film by him is still really great.

[@luckyesteban5056]

This guy deserves an oscar for best director....his genius and dedicated on his craft

[@SunnyBear]

Tom does such a lovely job with these interviews: friendly and knowledgeable. Thanks for this!

[@gauravsoni9530]

What a beautiful dalliance of thoughtful dialogue and conversation between 2 people who are so refined and sure of their own art and what they put out in the world

[@elevenseven-yq4vu]

Great conversation, thanks for the upload.

[@jenniferd5477]

Thank you for giving this amazing role to the best BRENDAN FRASERRRR YES YES YESSSSS

[@jasperthomas2165]

Great questions pound for pound one of the best interviews

[@artieoms]

The foresight to find interesting stories to tell in a way like no other is the genius of Darren Aronofsky, combined with the performance by Brendan Fraser is what makes this film so honest and fitting. Truly inspirational!

[@tremoo5987]

Tom Power is a legend.

[@charliedameliodunkinfanpag6462]

Darren knew whom to take to play Charlie..well done,both...👍👍👍👍♥️🇭🇷

[@2365Films]

GREAT Interview, WELL DONE!

[@leannecanty8821]

"when you are watchin at home, it is hard to stay away from another screen..". I'm sitting here reading comments, while listening to the interview. 🤪

[@steevenhyde3505]

Darren is handsome.

[@geurlyc.hernandezg.229]

And the Best!

[@SimonHergott]

It's so strange how homosexuality has become so normalized that people will openly engage in that behavior. So much of our basic survival needs are met and we all live such affluent lives compared to centuries ago that we're given the opportunity to explore all these weird desires as if they're of utmost importance and everyone around us should comply and accept these new Alphabet people ideologies. I hope civilization collapses and many, many people go extinct.

[@RuminatingWizard]

So?

[@metime4325]

True director.

[@telsutton]

Pi in 8k!!! With Mansell's seminal score in ATMOS!!!! I don't think DA realises how important is little movie was... get on IMAX. I say it's still my fave of his, where you can find all the themes he'd expound on later, much like Scorsese's debut.

[@emf2482]

you guys seem in perfect sync personality wise lol. Pi is my favorite movie and Requiem for a dream is also a masterpiece.

[@elevenseven-yq4vu]

Pi, RfaD, mother! are my favourite Aronofsky films - so claustrophobic and surreal.

[@honoredebalzac1281]

Hi. You were wondering about what character ate 2 slices of pizza on top of each at once? It was John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever! Btw, I am Brendan's brother disguised as a famous French writer

[@vargheesejoseph6729]

Interviwer s fantastic

[@gabrielafonseca4034]

In my country body activists are raging against the film calling it "fatphobic" when it's not even a film about obesity. All these characters have suffered rejection and feeling unloved and coping and trying to get things right, not unlike the characters in Requiem for a Dream. Of course the activists are entitled to their perspective

[@gabrielafonseca4034]

@@skittlesmcgee I don't share your point of view but I respect it as well as your perspective on the movie

[@kuriousQing21]

@@gabrielafonseca4034what about this movie is fatphobic? What the truth of the rejection that many obese people face that was revealed in this movie? That’s fatphobic? Or was that revealing of the phobia that exists in our society so we can really come face to face with what it actually does to another human? Was this fatphobic or was this a call for us to wake up to the perspectives that we experience in society but don’t talk about? Fatphobic is when a movie perpetuates the idea that fat shaming is okay. This movie did quite the opposite.

[@elevenseven-yq4vu]

They are also entitled to ridicule for being totally media illiterate in an age that abounds with media.

[@OctPSfever]

What differentiates a great actor or so so actor is who can bring the intensity and carry the audiences. Brendan always had that.

[@kloxiimusic]

please win oscar ....

[@a_lucientes]

John Travolta eats two slices piled one on top of the other at the start of Saturday Night Fever is the only other film reference I know of where someone does that.

[@phantomfire8228]

9:12

[@j4v3l73]

Darren is a pro. Movie crafted perfectly from the beginning to end. I'm just wondering.. why there no Clint Mansel? Swan.. can't see it as success, honestly it's a crap. Natalies Oscar wasnt deserved. Noah embarrassed me, mother was fun in some case, but.. truly I felt like I've been fed up with that sort of.. Darrens stuff. Best movies.. Pi, requiem, whale

[@rutherfrogp.wilmington4907]

The Wrestler is his best in my opinion

[@omarpuig1]

The man looks like Steve Job's brother. Jesus Christ...

[@teejaysalgado9819]

That’s my immediate reaction when I first saw “that” standing ovation they gave Brendan. I was like, “I thought Steve Jobs was dead?”

[@solarisnatuson7928]

Watched Pi on Friday. It gave me a great piece of the esoteric puzzle I try to solve. I was interrogated the 24th of February which is 2x24=48. It is also the day Russia invaded Ukraine. However, 48 fractions into Pi the number 105 shows up. 105 is an superimportant number to me. 105 is also 14 triangulated.

[@elevenseven-yq4vu]

You can play numerical games for as long as you want, but at the end of the day they are just that. Unless you lose touch with reality and superimpose them onto everything and inject random meaning into these numbers, then they become a cristallization core for an emergent schizophrenia. "23" is another great movie about paranoia amongst those prone to take games too seriously.

[@Made4Fan]

Bro almost looks like Steve jobs wtf..

[@SimonHergott]

Interesting time in history for this movie to come out when fitness magazines and glamour mags are promoting obesity yet criticizing people for not taking experimental Cvd injections and calling them a burden on the health care system. The worlds a strange place these days.

[@samwilson2805]

oh geez the tin foil hat crew found their way to regular youtube, shoo shoo! go back!

[@samwilson2805]

@@junglist4363 ...you comment on the same video. If I'm on the boring side I guess that means you are as well. Come on down sometime friend, I'll spot you.

[@JCinerea]

A person can't catch fat cells by breathing. There are people who are normally just a little pudgy, which is the vast majority of us, then there are people who don't take care of themselves and clearly need to, and then there are people who have eating disorders. I'm in recovery from addiction myself, and I've known people with eating disorders. "Charlie" was a man with an eating disorder, who certainly ate to alleviate stress and possibly alleviate boredom. That's why he binged on the candy bars, a type of food that was killing him, after reading that his condition was going to end his life. In my opinion, this movie was not denigrating or promoting obesity at all.

[@samwilson2805]

@@JCinerea I think that's the best way to look at it. Overall, this is a movie about addiction. It just swaps drugs for food, I think people forget that addiction comes in many different forms.

[@PopularDemand1000]

I don’t think I liked The Whale.

[@BUEAU]

You had 31 minutes with Aronofsky and this is what you planted? Pfff