As the film adaptation of “The Whale” hits U.S. theaters, playwright-turned-screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter said he hopes audiences empathize with the screenplay’s exploration of how trauma can harm people and break them down.
“‘The Whale’ was seminal for me, both in my career but also, kind of, for me personally. It was the first time that I had … really personal stuff from my own history and put it into a play,” Hunter said.
“It just affected people in a different way than my other plays had,” he added, saying his willingness to put something on the line where the audience can “sense a vulnerability” allowed them to more easily “open their hearts and minds” and have a meaningful theater experience. When the two first met, nearly a decade ago, Aronofsky was in the midst of post-production on his 2014 biblical epic “Noah,” starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, and Hunter had no screenwriting experience. During that initial meeting, the two men started to lay the groundwork for a film adaptation.
Around 2018, Fraser was slowly returning to film following a long hiatus from the public eye and had recently been seen in shows including “The Affair,” “Condor” and “Titans.” “I think, ‘At long last, we found the guy who can actually do this, and he’s telling the story the right way — with love, integrity, this uncanny ability to hold joy and despair in the same moment.’ And then, 10 days later, the pandemic hit,” Hunter said.
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