Bedford's Brendan Fraser Wins Critics' Choice Best Actor Award

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Brendan Fraser made the Hudson Valley proud with a win at the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday night.

Fraser, a resident of Bedford, earned a Best Actor award at the 2023 Critics' Choice Awards for his performance in "The Whale," which was filmed right here in the Hudson Valley.

In the film, which was released nationwide in December, Fraser plays the role of a morbidly obese teacher named Charlie living a life of solitude in Idaho. The 600-pound Charlie tries to reconnect with his estranged 17-year-old daughter as he fears his life is coming to an end.

The 54-year-old was competing against some of Hollywood's biggest names: Tom Cruise for "Top Gun: Maverick," Colin Farrell for "The Banshees of Inisherin," Bill Nighy for "Living," Austin Butler for "Elvis," and Paul Mescal for "Aftersun."

"It was Herman Melville who once wrote that there are only five critics in America — the rest are asleep," Fraser joked in Sunday night's acceptance speech. "I don't know what it means, either, but I'm sure glad you woke up for me. Where were you for Furry Vengeance?"

The jovial moment gave way to a heartfelt, sometimes tearful, tribute to the rocky road that led to the recognition.

"And Darren Aronofsky, I was in the wilderness and I probably should have left a trail of breadcrumbs, but you found me, and like all the best directors, you merely just showed me where to go to get me where I needed to be," Fraser said. "This movie, The Whale, is about love. It's about redemption. It's about finding the light in a dark place."

See: Hudson Valley Co-Stars With Bedford's Brendan Fraser In 'The Whale'

Fraser said that while the praise for his performance has been billed as something of a comeback story, it's the story told on film where the real lesson can be learned.

"If you, like a guy like Charlie, who I played in this movie, in any way, struggle with obesity, or you just feel like you're in a dark sea, I want you to know that if you, too, can have the strength to just get to your feet and go to the light, good things will happen."

As the camera panned the crowd, audience members could be seen wiping away tears, before joining in a rousing standing ovation.

Fraser lost out to Austin Butler for Best Actor earlier this month at the Golden Globes.

However, Fraser announced last year that he would not be attending the Golden Globes ceremony, even if nominated.

In 2018, Fraser went public with allegations that he had been sexually assaulted more than a decade earlier by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization behind the Golden Globes. He said the incident took place at a Beverly Hills luncheon in 2003.

"I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association," Fraser told GQ magazine. "It's because of the history that I have with them. And my mother didn't raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that."

After an investigation, the HFPA concluded that Berk "inappropriately touched" Fraser, but added that it "was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance."

"I knew they would close ranks," Fraser told GQ. "I knew they would kick the can down the road. I knew they would get ahead of the story. I knew that I certainly had no future with that system as it was... I think it was because it was too prickly or sharp-edged or icky for people to want to go first and invest emotionally in the situation.

Berk, a member from South Africa, was ultimately expelled from the HFPA in 2021 after calling Black Lives Matter "a racist hate movement."

Brendan Fraser walked away from Hollywood in favor of the Hudson Valley countryside and a more peaceful way of life, but Tinseltown came knocking far from the Sunset Strip to reclaim a star.

There has been Oscar buzz for months, especially after Fraser received a six-minute standing ovation after the film premiered at the 79th Venice Film Festival in September, bringing him to tears.

Born in Indianapolis and raised in Europe and Canada, Fraser fell in love with theater at the age of 12, while his family lived in London. Best known for starring in several hit movies in the 1990s and early 2000s, including "The Mummy" franchise, "George of the Jungle," "Encino Man," "Airheads," "Blast from the Past," "Bedazzled" and "Crash," Fraser hasn't really been on screen very much during the past ten years.

The Berk assault allegations controversy, a divorce, the death of his mother and reported health problems led the actor to take time away from the limelight. Fraser, who lives on a horse farm in Bedford, says he took some important personal time, and mostly focused on being a father to his three sons who live nearby with his ex-wife in Greenwich.

"All I knew is that I never felt like it was enough," Fraser told the AP last month. "I questioned myself. I felt scrutinized, judged, objectified, often humiliated. It did play with my head. It did play with my confidence."

Many are calling "The Whale" his comeback film. The one-time in-demand leading man says that characterization doesn't bother him, even if it's not entirely accurate.

"If anything, this is a reintroduction more than a comeback," Fraser told the AP. "It's an opportunity to reintroduce myself to an industry, who I do not believe forgot me as is being perpetrated. I've just never been that far away."

The movie star, turned Hudson Valley gentleman equestrian, had little trouble transitioning back to his familiar role on camera, but his return was complicated by an unforeseen danger that changed life in our corner of New York and beyond.

"I gave it everything I had every day," Fraser said. "We lived under existential threat of COVID. An actor's job is to approach everything like it's the first time. I did but also as if it might be the last time."

Though the story is set in Idaho, rehearsal and production took place between January and April of 2021, at the Umbra Studios on Scobie Drive in Newburgh, managed by Choice Films. According to A24, "every scene was meticulously blocked out, and the floor was taped as the power dynamics between the characters turned from theoretical to physical."

Most of the filming took place indoors at Umbra's Stage 4, an 18,000-square-foot drive-on sound stage. Scenes were also filmed in New Paltz.

"The film scene in Orange County is booming, and local businesses are excited to welcome the many professionals comprising the films' producers, directors, cast, and crew to their new home," Orange County Tourism and Film Director Amanda Dana said in March 2021. "This gesture is just a small way to remind our 'film people' that Orange County is not only a prime location for filming, but a place you definitely want to live, work, and play.

For his role as Charlie, Fraser wore a large body suit and prosthetics created by makeup artist Adrian Morot that required several hours of makeup each day.

"The Whale" is Rated R and 117 minutes long. Watch the A24 trailer: