Hudson Valley Wins Oscar Night: Fraser Gets Best Actor For 'The Whale'

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Brendan Fraser made the Hudson Valley proud with a huge win at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday night.

Fraser, a resident of Bedford, earned a best actor Oscar at the 95th Academy 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.

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. It paid off though because "The Whale" won the Oscar for best makeup and hairstyling.

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

The Hollywood legend, who lives on a Westchester horse farm, hugged his girlfriend and his two sons before making his way onto the stage in an emotional moment that saw the crowd rise for a standing ovation.

"So this is what the multiverse looks like," Fraser quipped, accepting the award. "Oh, my goodness. I thank the Academy for this honor and for Studio A24 for making such a bold film ... I started in this business 30 years ago and things, they didn't come easily to me. But there was a facility I didn't appreciate at the time, until it stopped. And I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgment. Because it couldn't be done without my cast. It's been like I've been on a diving expedition at the bottom of the ocean and the air on the line to the surface is on a launch being watched over by some people in my life."

SEE ALSO:

• Hudson Valley Co-Stars With Bedford's Brendan Fraser In 'The Whale'
• Bedford's Brendan Fraser Wins Critics' Choice Best Actor Award

It was Fraser's decision to walk away from Hollywood in favor of the Hudson Valley countryside and a more peaceful way of life, that ultimately heralded the leading man's return to superstardom.

Just a few weeks ago, Fraser won the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role. Earlier this year, he won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for best actor.

Fraser lost out to Austin Butler for Best Actor earlier this year 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."

There had 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 in December. "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.

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