L‘Oscars 2023 for Best Actor is a neck and neck between Austin Butler, Elvis in the biopic of Baz LuhrmannAnd Brendan Fraserthe obese professor of the film The Whale. Who will win? Hard to tell. Bookmakers give Fraser as a favourite to the statuette (quoted 1.52 against Butler’s 2.35), numbers that are based on cold and precise data, i.e. the prizes won to date. And although the result is a draw (3 to 3), it seems that the awards attributed to Fraser count more.
Oscars 2023. Brendan Fraser and Austin Butler: the awards compared
Brendan pocketed the SAG (Screen Actors Guild Awards) awarded by the union that represents the actors (a plus, given that many jurors are part of the Academy, which awards the Oscars). She then won a Critics Choice Awards, prize awarded each year by hundreds of critics from major American newspapers, and the Satellite Award as the protagonist of a drama film.
To Austin Butler they went instead the BAFTA (the British Oscar), the Golden Globes as a drama actor and the Satellite Award as Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical (and here the critics should agree on the classifications).
Austin Butler with the BAFTA for “Elvis”. (Getty Images)
What will the members of the Academy decide? Will they prefer the 53-year-old actor who has returned to the scene after a dark period or the already established young talent? And if they choose instead the outsider (so to speak) that could surprise everyone: the excellent Colin Farrell; with The spirits of the island he won the Volpi Cup for best actor, surpassing his own Lido Brendan Fraser, and the Golden Globe for Motion Picture or Musical Comedy.
Austin Butler sings and plays (almost) like Elvis
Austin Butler devoted three years to Elvis and the result is an impeccable performance, in which the actor acts, sings and plays the guitar (his passion since he was 12, refreshed with a few lessons). “While we were preparing for the film, I did my singing exercises first thing in the morning. It really is like a muscle. I started to notice that I was reaching notes that I wasn’t reaching before, that my vocal range was growing,” she said.
The musical performance was also promoted by Riley Keough, grandson of Elvis, who wrote on Instagram: “One of the most amazing parts for me about ‘Elvis’ and that people maybe don’t know (because he did a fantastic job) is that Austin Butler sang all the voices of the young Elvis”.
Austin Butler and Priscilla Presley at the premiere of “Elvis” at the Cannes Film Festival. (Getty Images)
Two curiosities: Luhrmann had thought of Harry Styles for the part, but then chose Butler so that Elvis’ image would not get lost in that of the already famous singer. When the director asked Butler at the audition what tied him most to Elvisthe performer replied: the loss of a mother (disappeared when the actor was 23 years old). Here Luhrmann understood that he had found the right personable to grasp the pain of the character.
Brendan Fraser got to the Oscars thanks to pain
In life, Brendan Fraser has also come to terms with suffering which also in this case helped to pass the audition and the actor’s test The Whaleadaptation of Darren Aronofsky of an award-winning play written by Samuel D. Hunter in 2012. Following the success of the trilogy The Mummythe actor faced a difficult divorce and severe depression.
Brendan Fraser in the movie “The Whale”
Experiences that helped him play Charlie, a severely obese literature teacher who spends his life at home teaching via zoom with the can turned off, and who on the edge of the precipice tries to recover the relationship with his daughter. “I could never have played this part before, I didn’t have the experience of life or pain”, he has declared. “I think Charlie is by far the most heroic man he’s ever played, because his superpower is to see the good in others and bring it out. This trial is his journey to salvation.”.
The title The Whale, the whale, refers to Charlie’s 270 kilos. But also to Moby Dickthe novel by Herman Melville about which his daughter Ellie wrote an essay that the man is obsessed with. Wearing 130 kilos of prostheses, the result of six hours of makeup every day, Fraser manages to convey every emotion using above all eyes and voice, a feat that strikes a balance between monstrous and poignant.
And the Oscar goes to…
Taking sides for one or the other actor is a matter of taste. The two interpretations are level and the characters are powerful. As for predictions, if Elvis/Butler can count on more spectators and nominations, The Whale/Fraser brings with it a story of pain, redemption, empathy, ingredients that the Americans of the Academy really like.
All that remains is to say good luck to the two favourites, without forgetting the other three who could reserve us a surprise: the aforementioned Colin Farrell (The spirits of the island), Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Bill Nighy (Living).
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