Dwayne Johnson, watching from outside the theater through the media coverage, posted his response on social media. He said the ovation made him happy. He recalled the early days of his film career, when Fraser had been the established star and he was the newcomer playing the Scorpion King, and the specific generosity Fraser had shown him. The social media response was immediate and extensive. “Brendan Fraser deserved this” was the common formulation. The “Frasernaissance” — the term that circulated for the particular cultural moment of his return — had its public beginning in the Venice coverage of that evening.
Fraser, speaking afterward about the emotional moment, did not explain it comprehensively in terms that would reduce it to any single cause. He had been away from a stage like that for a long time. He had made something he believed in. The audience had responded. The six minutes were, in whatever combination of causes, something that needed to be cried through.
## The Awards Circuit: A Different Kind of Run
The awards season that followed the Venice premiere was unusual for the specific texture of the public response to Fraser’s participation in it.
He was immediately positioned as an award-season frontrunner, the kind of status that the Venice standing ovation and the early critical response to his performance established. But the awards campaign for The Whale unfolded against the backdrop of everything that had gone before — the career slowdown, the 2018 disclosure, the physical history, the years of TV work and smaller roles. The combination made the campaign feel, to many observers, like something more than the usual competition for a statuette.