Brendan Fraser makes 'Whale'-sized comeback in Venice

In one of the most unexpected movie comebacks ever, Brendan Fraser transformed into a morbidly obese man for 'The Whale' which premiered at the Venice Film Festival Sunday and made him an instant frontrunner for an Oscar.

One of the biggest names in Hollywood in the 1990s, Fraser starred in a string of family friendly blockbusters like "George of the Jungle" and "The Mummy", before his cinema career fell off in the late 2000s.

But his return as Charlie, a 250 kg English professor trying to reconnect with his daughter, has drawn instant acclaim.

"I needed to learn to absolutely move in a new way," Fraser told reporters in Venice. "I developed muscles I didn't know I had. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, as you do stepping off the boat here in Venice."

The movie is the latest from US director Darren Aronofsky, who won the top prize, the Golden Lion, in Venice in 2008 for "The Wrestler", and is known for dark indie films such as "Black Swan" and "Requiem for a Dream". 

"Charlie is by far the most heroic man I've ever played," Fraser said. "His superpower is to see the good in others and bring that out in them."

"Everyone's leaning into the cynicism and darkness and giving up hope, and it's exactly what we don't need right now. We have to lean into (the idea that) underneath it all, we really do care about each other," the 53-year-old director said. 

While the film drew some criticism for being a "soupy melodrama", in the words of Screen Daily, there was near-unanimous praise for Fraser's performance. 

"The Whale" was originally a play by Samuel D Hunter, who helped adapt it for the screen.