Blu-ray Review The Whale – Bluray review (1 Viewer)

[battlebeast]

As was another A24 film: Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse, which was framed at 1.19:1.

I’ve never seen that aspect ratio… or, if I have, I don’t recall it being mentioned. Has it been used before?

 

[jayembee]

I’ve never seen that aspect ratio… or, if I have, I don’t recall it being mentioned. Has it been used before?

Back in the 19-teens and 1920s.

 

[battlebeast]

Back in the 19-teens and 1920s.

Ah. I’ve seen a few films from those eras, so I guess I have seen it. Thanks!

 

[Tino]

Did the actress in What's Eating Gilbert Grape need a fat suit?

You never answered my question. Have you actually seen The Whale?

 

[Noel Aguirre]

You never answered my question. Have you actually seen The Whale?

Correct- I’m not answering your question because you had previously said in a Spielberg fanboy thread you’d blocked me. Now you’ve unblocked me and won’t be ignored?

 

[Noel Aguirre]

The 1.33 aspect ratio was done for a reason, to give the feeling of being closed in. I liked that.

Is that what Aronofsky said and not chosen so Charlie would fill the entire frame?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Couldn’t they find a fat actor to play this role? Not since Shallow Hal have I seen such fat shaming. Fat suits are the black face to overweight people IMO

This seems to be something that is a giant deal today, that rather than casting an actor to act, you should cast a person that is that actual thing that is being portrayed. Not sure how this became a requirement but other than say, having a white person play a real life person that was of a different ethnic background, or vice versa, I don't see why you can't have a person play something they really are not in real life...isn't that what makes them actors?

So, if you need to cast a junkie, you have to cast a person that is an addict in real life? A person that is paralyzed can only be played by a person that is confined to a wheelchair in real life?

This seems a bit nutty to me. Actors act, they portray things they are not in real life. I mean if you want to have a white guy play a person that in real life was black to make some sort of artistic point...fine. If you want to cast a black guy as James Bond, fine. That's a fictional character.

If you are making a picture about real life people and doing it in such a way that you are trying to faithfully tell their story, then probably best that you cast a black guy to play Malcolm X or MLK. And probably cast a white guy to play JFK or RFK.

I just saw recently that they are going to make another picture about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but in this version they are going to cast a black guy as Butch or Sundance. OK, that does seem a bit odd as they were real people, but do what you feel you must I guess.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Do people recall the funny story about Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier making Marathon Man? Hoffman had to play a scene where his character was exhausted and had been up all night and so he stays up all night and comes to the set looking disheveled and exhausted and Olivier looks at him alarmed and asks what happened. Hoffman says he stayed up all night for the scene and Olivier says to him "Dear boy, have you tried acting?"

 

[jayembee]

This seems to be something that is a giant deal today, that rather than casting an actor to act, you should cast a person that is that actual thing that is being portrayed. Not sure how this became a requirement but other than say, having a white person play a real life person that was of a different ethnic background, or vice versa, I don't see why you can't have a person play something they really are not in real life...isn't that what makes them actors?

So, if you need to cast a junkie, you have to cast a person that is an addict in real life? A person that is paralyzed can only be played by a person that is confined to a wheelchair in real life?

This seems a bit nutty to me. Actors act, they portray things they are not in real life. I mean if you want to have a white guy play a person that in real life was black to make some sort of artistic point...fine. If you want to cast a black guy as James Bond, fine. That's a fictional character.

If you are making a picture about real life people and doing it in such a way that you are trying to faithfully tell their story, then probably best that you cast a black guy to play Malcolm X or MLK. And probably cast a white guy to play JFK or RFK.

I just saw recently that they are going to make another picture about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but in this version they are going to cast a black guy as Butch or Sundance. OK, that does seem a bit odd as they were real people, but do what you feel you must I guess.

Well, it's not quite that simple. It's not so much that people don't like the idea of an actor who doesn't physically match the character playing the character. It's that there are a number of struggling actors who do match the character who can't get work because they, as people, don't match some idealistic standard that actors are supposed to fit.

Back in the day, white actors were cast to play Asian characters (hell, Katharine Hepburn was once cast as a Chinese woman!) simply because of the idea that people wanted to see "stars" in the movies, and no Asian actors were "stars". Charlie Chan was (almost) always played by a white guy, but all of his relatives were played by Asian actors. So why couldn't Charlie be?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Well, it's not quite that simple. It's not so much that people don't like the idea of an actor who doesn't physically match the character playing the character. It's that there are a number of struggling actors who do match the character who can't get work because they, as people, don't match some idealistic standard that actors are supposed to fit.

Back in the day, white actors were cast to play Asian characters (hell, Katharine Hepburn was once cast as a Chinese woman!) simply because of the idea that people wanted to see "stars" in the movies, and no Asian actors were "stars". Charlie Chan was (almost) always played by a white guy, but all of his relatives were played by Asian actors. So why couldn't Charlie be?

Yes, I think if I am casting a part that is written as a specific race, I would start by looking at actors that were that race or looked like it. I would not go to a white guy to play Charlie Chan but also because that is a fictional character I would not really freak out if they cast someone that was not specifically Chinese to play the part. However, because mainstream movies are now basically required to appeal to China, well, I probably would go out of my way to find the right Chinese actor to play that character. In the past, yes, they went by the standard that they wanted to cram a known actor into every part so, yes, they had white guys playing all kinds of other races. Sometimes in ways that were not very nice...see Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Thankfully, we don't do that anymore, mostly. Plus it does just seem better and more authentic to cast a race appropriate actor to play a character that is supposed to be that race. But I mean, when Disney casts Johnny Depp to play Tonto, well, that was because he was a star and made them money on the Pirates films.

There are only a small number of people that get cast in good parts in a picture and so the reality is, most people, like 98% do not get those parts. Most times you get cast over and over because people/audiences like you. Willem Dafoe gets cast in all kinds of parts because people like Willem Dafoe. In your example, Willem Dafoe is essentially screwing hundreds of other actors because he is popular.

I mean, you are making a film, you can have Dwayne Johnson play the part or a random white guy...who do you cast? Obviously Dwayne Johnson because he is a proven draw. It is about money. The primary color they care about is green.

Very few actors achieve the popularity to be cast in larger roles over and over. Given the choice, they will always take the known over the unknown in most cases. One exception is probably the superhero film because, the suit trumps the actor. Look good in the suit, you can get that part.

Today, movie stars have been completely diminished and count far less than they once did. So, the opportunity is there for other people to step into speaking parts but there are still a very limited amount of speaking parts in motion pictures and given the choice, if a company can have Willem Dafoe or some other random actor...guess who they will choose?

Not really sure why they want to have a black guy play Butch or Sundance, that makes no sense, but do you think it is because they just want a black guy that has not achieved stardom to have a chance to play that part?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Is that what Aronofsky said and not chosen so Charlie would fill the entire frame?

He said the character felt trapped in his life and body and so to give a sense of that claustrophobia he used that aspect ratio.

 

[Martin_Teller]

No, but Darlene Cates was "only" 500 pounds when she appeared in Gilbert Grape, and lost 250 pounds before she died in 2017, so would have needed some additional padding in order to play 600-pound Charlie.

Being awfully pedantic about this 600 number, aren't we? Surely it could be any actor that society would classify as morbidly obese without needing to be a particular number on the scale.

 

[Tino]

Correct- I’m not answering your question because you had previously said in a Spielberg fanboy thread you’d blocked me. Now you’ve unblocked me and won’t be ignored?

I never said said that and I’ve actually never blocked anyone.

Since you’ve twice avoided the question now I guess we can all just assume you haven’t seen The Whale.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

It’s not your concern
And yes you put me on an ignore list aka blocking someone. But whatever please move on. You’re wasting my energy responding to your trolling me.

 

[SD_Brian]

Being awfully pedantic about this 600 number, aren't we? Surely it could be any actor that society would classify as morbidly obese without needing to be a particular number on the scale.

300 pounds qualifies as morbidly-obese, so do we then need to slap a fat suit on a 300-pound actor to make up the 300 pound difference? How would that be better than putting a fat suit on Brendan Fraser? Ok, so maybe I'm being a little pedantic. Just trying to understand how much an actor needs to weigh before he can be allowed to play a 600-pound man.

 

[Martin_Teller]

300 pounds qualifies as morbidly-obese, so do we then need to slap a fat suit on a 300-pound actor to make up the 300 pound difference? How would that be better than putting a fat suit on Brendan Fraser? Ok, so maybe I'm being a little pedantic. Just trying to understand how much an actor needs to weigh before he can be allowed to play a 600-pound man.

You're missing my point. The CHARACTER does not need to be 600 pounds.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Some of us need to knock it off before they're banned from this thread.