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Brendan Fraser\u2019s performance in Darren Aronofsky\u2019s new film The Whale<\/a> has seen him win all kinds of accolades \u2013 gaining nominations at just about every major awards ceremony, including the top prize at the Critics Choice Awards.<\/p>\n The film sees the former The Mummy star take on the role of Charlie, an obese and reclusive English teacher searching for redemption as he attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter Ellie, played by Stranger Things<\/a> star Sadie Sink.<\/p>\n It is adapted from a 2012 play of the same name by prolific playwright Samuel D Hunter, but some viewers may find themselves wondering if that script has its roots in real life \u2013 read on for everything you need to know.<\/p> No \u2013 the film is not based on a true story and is almost completely a work of fiction, even if writer Samuel D Hunter has said that certain aspects of the plot are semi-autobiographical.<\/p>\n The writer explained that just like the central character in the film, he had often taken comfort in Herman Melville\u2019s classic novel Moby-Dick while certain aspects of the character are taken from his own experiences as a gay man who was brought up attending a fundamentalist church school in the American Midwest.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my plays starting with The Whale have a personal connection, I treated it as auto-fiction,\u201d Hunter explained during a recent interview with Creative Screenwriting<\/a>. \u201cI never had the pull to write something that was truly autobiographical.<\/p>\n \u201cI took these lived-in experiences and breathed them into a real work of fiction. It put something on the line for me emotionally. It took me to a more vulnerable place. But I kept a safe distance.\u201d<\/p> Is The Whale based on a true story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n