James Corden claims he was the original choice for ‘The Whale’
As award season begins to go into full-scale production mode, one of the main frontrunners for lead actors is Brendan Fraser‘s role in Daren Aronofsky’s The Whale.
While the movie itself is receiving a mixed response from critics, Fraser’s performance has been consistently singled out for praise. As we’re learning now, that role could have potentially gone to a much different entertainment figure: comedian and late-night host James Corden.
According to writer Pete Hammond’s recent award season column in Deadline, Corden claimed that he was the original choice for the starring role in the drama film. Corden mentioned the casting to Hammond while promoting his recent Prime Video television programme Mammals.
“I was going to play that part, and Tom Ford was going to direct,” Corden is quoted as saying. According to Hammond, Corden and Ford’s involvement in the film was stalled when Ford requested more complete control of the film. Corden also claimed that George Clooney was once involved in getting the film made, but his vision of The Whale was also passed over because Clooney wanted a 600-pound unknown actor to play the central role of Charlie.
Hammond claims that he contacted Aronofsky about Corden’s claims and that the director confirmed his account. However, the timeline seems slightly out of sync with a recent interview with NBC Los Angeles, where Aronofsky claimed that he had been trying to get the film made himself for over a decade.
“To a lot of Sam Hunter’s pain, it took me 10 years to make this movie and that’s because it took me 10 years to cast,” Aronofsky said. “Casting Charlie was a huge challenge. I considered everyone. Every single movie star on the planet. But none of it really clicked. … It didn’t move me. It didn’t feel right.”
Samuel Hunter’s stage version of The Whale first premiered in 2012, so by Aronofsky’s math, he has been involved in the film adaptation from the very beginning. It’s unclear where Corden and Ford come into that timeline of production, but perhaps Corden will become more vocal about missing out on a potential Oscar-nominated role once award season really kicks into high gear.
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