Which A24 film stars Brendan Fraser as reclusive teacher Charlie?

The A24 film in which Brendan Fraser plays reclusive teacher Charlie is The Whale. Fraser portrays Charlie, a severely obese online English instructor living alone in Moscow, Idaho, who wants to repair his relationship with his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, the 2022 film adapts Samuel D. Hunter’s 2012 stage play. Hunter also wrote the screenplay, while the setting was shifted from 2009 to 2016 for the movie. The cast includes Sadie Sink as Ellie, Hong Chau as Charlie’s nurse Liz, and Samantha Morton as his former wife, Mary.

The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2022 before its U.S. theatrical release. Fraser’s performance became the film’s defining talking point: he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and The Whale also won the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

A common mix-up is confusing The Whale with The Wrestler, another Darren Aronofsky drama centered on a troubled protagonist. The Whale is also not a story about an actual whale; its title connects to Charlie’s emotional and literary world, including his daughter’s essay about Moby-Dick.