Brendan Fraser gets Bafta nomination after piling on 7stone in weight for The Whale

BRENDAN Fraser has landed himself a 2023 EE BAFTA nomination after pilling on seven stone for his role in The Whale.

The former Hollywood hunk, who famously played the ab-flashing lead in 1997 hit George Of the Jungle, will go up against Colin Farrell, Paul Mescal, Austin Butler in the Leading Actor category.

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Brendan, 54, missed out on a Best Actor Golden Globe to Austin last week and will be hoping he will have more success at the ceremony in London’s Southbank Centre on 19 February.

As well as gaining a huge amount of weight, Brenda wore a 300lb fat suit filled with marbles to take on the role as Charlie, a man trying to reconnect with his daughter after leaving his family for his gay lover.

After Charlie’s lover dies, Brendan’s character is seen spiralling into obesity.

Brendan said of the controversy surrounding his character’s weight: “It’s important to say this, because there are those who live with this disease.

“I felt empowered to be their voice and to be as honest as I could and as authentic as I could in the portrayal. Look, my weight has been all over the map.”

Of the fat suit, he added: “There was a five-point harness that had me strapped in. Once into it, I was in there all day until it came off.

“The costume pieces themselves contained combinations of those little airsoft pellets, maybe dried beans, marbles. But the rule was that the whole look should obey the laws of physics and gravity, because we don’t see that in films.”

Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett, 53, Viola Davis, 57, and Emma Thompson, 63, will battle it out for Leading Actress alongside Ana De Armas, 34, who got a nod for her role as Marilyn Monroe in Netflix's Blonde.

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Netflix's All Quiet On The Western Front, which is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, has made history after landing 14 nominations meaning it ties with 2001's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as the foreign-language film with the most nominations in EE Bafta's history.

Colin Farrell’s The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything, Everywhere At One are closely behind with ten nominations each.

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, the biopic about the King of Rock N Roll, has nine nods.

Gina Prince-Bythewood is the only female nominee in the Best Director category for The Woman King.

Naomi Ackie, who plays Whitney Houston in the biopic about her life, is favourite to win the EE Rising star award.

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She plays the iconic singer in I Wanna Dance With Somebody which has been released to rave reviews.

Sheila Atim, who appears in The Woman King, and Leo Grande actor Daryl McCormack are also nominated.

Sex Education stars Emma Mackey and Aimee Lou Wood were named as nominees too.

A panel of industry experts including actors Hayley Atwell and Joe Cole chose this year’s cohort.

Speaking to Sky after the nominations were announced, Sheila said: “Being nominated for an award is always made that much sweeter when it's a project that you really love.

“So in some ways it takes the pressure off because you feel like you're representing a wider thing, like you're representing a project and a collaborative effort.

“There's no way I would be anything without Viola (Davis), without the stunt team, the training team…

“We mesh together and that kind of individualism really kind of melted away.

“So for me, I'm just excited to be able to talk about the Woman King through this award as well.”

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