Brendan Fraser's performance in The Whale helped Freddie Prinze Jr. through fatherhood
“It made me want to be a better father,” Freddie Prinze Jr. says of Brendan Fraser's new film The Whale
Since early reviews first started landing, much of the discourse on Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale has surrounded its relationship to its main character: Charlie, an obese, homebound teacher grappling with the strained relationships in his life. But amid criticism and raves, recognition for Brendan Fraser’s tender and emotive performance hasn’t wavered—and now, Freddie Prinze Jr. is joining the choir.
In a new conversation with Fraser for Interview Magazine, Prinze Jr. lauds The Whale as “the single most beautiful piece of art,” sharing: “It hit me unlike anything ever hit me before.”
Part of that resonance, Prinze Jr. explains, comes from the realizations it led him to about navigating the most important relationships in his own life. Prinze Jr. has been married to his Scooby-Doo co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar since 2002—the couple shares two children.
“[The Whale] made me want to be a better father. A better husband. A better friend,” he says. “It forces you to look inside yourself.”