Brendan Fraser emotional as he receives standing ovation for ‘comeback’ movie The Whale at Venice Film Festival

Video footage has been shared showing actor Brendan Fraser, 53, getting emotional after a successful reaction to his latest film, The Whale.

Brendan is an American actor, from Indianapolis, who is known for his role as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy trilogy and George in George of the Jungle.

Fraser’s film debuted at the Venice Film Festival and is already generating buzz for the 2023 Oscars.

The psychological drama sees Fraser undergo a physical transformation as he plays a 600-pound gay man, who is bound by a wheelchair and is trying to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.

The reaction clips shared by Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh show the American-Canadian actor receiving a six-minute standing ovation bringing him to tears.

Setoodeh captioned the string of clips: “The standing ovation for The Whale was so enthusiastic, Brendan Fraser tried to leave the theatre but the crowd’s applause made him stay.”

Before adding: “Brendan Fraser is back - and he sobbed during the #Venezia79 six-minute standing ovation for #TheWhale.”

His performance in the upcoming film The Whale was not only acknowledged by the Venice Film Festival audience but also by celebrities and fans on social media alike.

One fan shared: “If you know anything about Brendan Fraser’s personal life and what happened to his career, then you should be cheering for this man. What a beautiful moment that’s well deserved. The beginning of something special.”

While another said: “I generally don’t care about award shows but Brendan better win this Oscar.”

Actor Dwayne Johnson tweeted: “Man this makes me so happy to see this beautiful standing ovation for Brendan. He supported me coming into his Mummy Returns franchise for my first ever role, which kicked off my Hollywood career.

“Rooting for all of your success brother and congrats to my bud Darren Aronofsky.”

In Setoodeh’s clips, Fraser can be initially seen sat with The Whale’s director Darren Aronofsky, 53, before the latter gestured for him to stand up for the applause.

Darren has previously directed the 2017 film ‘Mother’ and 1998’s Pi.

His latest film is set to arrive in theatres in December with Stranger Things star Sadie Sink starring alongside Brendan Fraser.

Many fans believe the upcoming psychological drama to be Brendan’s comeback as it is his first leading role since Breakout in 2013.

Brendan told the Guardian: “I looked different in those [George of the Jungle] days. My journey to where I am now has been to explore as many characters as I can, and this [The Whale], presented the biggest challenge to me.

“By far I think that Charlie is the most heroic man I have ever played, because his superpower is to see the good in others, and bring that out in him. In that process, he’s on his journey of salvation.”

Brendan continued: “It gave me an appreciation for those whose bodies are similar. I learned that you need to be an incredibly strong person, physically, mentally to inhabit that being.”

As well as gaining weight for the role, Brendan worked with prosthetics as his character was confined to a wheelchair.

He claims that he had to learn to “absolutely move in a new way” and that removing the applicanes after a day of filming would give him vertigo.

Although the film has premiered in Venice, audiences will be not be able to watch The Whale 9 December 2022.