At the 2023 SAG Awards, Brendan Fraser says “Stay in there”: Be Courageous
Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy, and Adam Sandler were also nominated for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role
The 2023 SAG Awards have a winner: Brendan Fraser!
Fraser, 54, made a joke about Sir Ian McKellen’s advice to “be good, be brief, and be seated” as he accepted the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for his performance in The Whale at the SAG Awards on Sunday. (They shared a co-starring role in the 1998 film Gods and Monsters.)
“I never would have believed I would have been offered the role of my life in this character, Charlie in The Whale, he’s someone who is on a raft of regrets but he’s in a sea of hope,” the actor said, after recounting that he first received his SAG-AFTRA card in 1991.
“I’ve been at that sea, and I’ve rode that wave lately and it’s been powerful and good and I’ve also had that wave smash me right down to the ocean floor and drag my face along there and wind up on some strange beach in a different world, wondering ‘where am I now?’ ” Fraser continued in his speech.
“I just want you to know, for real, all the actors out there who have gone through that, who are going through that, I know how you feel,” he added. “But believe me, if you just stay in there and you put one foot in front of the other, you get to where you need to go. Have courage.”
Other contenders for the award for best male actor in a leading role on Sunday included Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Bill Nighy (Living), and Adam Sandler (Hustle).
Fraser’s dedication to The Whale, a movie in which he portrays a 600-pound man who must confront the limitations of his reclusive life over a period of five days, has earned him multiple award nods, including a Golden Globe nomination and Critics Choice Award win.
Fraser, who triumphantly made a comeback to the big screen with The Whale, also won the Spotlight Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards on January 5. Additionally, he has received numerous prolonged standing ovations at film festivals.
“It’s been gratifying, it’s been eye-opening,” the actor told PEOPLE at the latter event of the praise he has received for his performance. “It has made me have a sense of accomplishment by way of seeing how this story is changing people’s hearts and minds.”
He added, “That’s gratifying, to say at least, and that kind of opportunity does not come along in this circus show of show business that we all play along with sometimes.”
“But when it does, and it’s material that’s handled with care and the project comports itself in a way that’s interesting and important, I feel very fortunate and lucky to be a part of it,” said Fraser.
Fraser thanked the Critics Choice Association in his moving acceptance speech for best actor at the Critics In his emotional acceptance speech for best actor at last month’s Critics Choice Awards, Fraser thanked the Critics Choice Association, then joked, “It was Herman Melville who once wrote that there are only five critics in America — the rest are asleep. I don’t know what it means, either, but I’m sure glad you woke up for me. Where were you for Furry Vengeance?!”, calling out his 2010 comedy costarring Brooke Shields and Ken Jeong.
He continued by describing the movie The Whale “It’s about love,” he continued, “and about redemption. It’s about discovering light in a dark place, and I’m so fortunate to have worked with such an amazing ensemble, “including playwright/screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter, Hong Chau, Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins, and others.
The 2023 SAG Awards are being broadcast live from the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Netflix’s YouTube channel.