Perennial miserablist Darren Aronofsky seems like just the guy to adapt a play about the final week in the life of a morbidly obese man coming to terms with his imminent death. In one fashion or another all of his projects have been harrowing, and he courts controversy both on and off-screen (the firestorm surrounding mother! was behind the J-Law and Aronofsky split back in 2017). Nevertheless, his latest project has been the subject of particular speculation and trepidation since it was announced in January 2021, owing to concerns that The Whale would be little more than a pitiful spectacle about fatness — an arthouse episode of My 600-Lb. Life.
