Where Was ‘The Whale’ Filmed? How Darren Aronofsky Built His One-Room Set

The Whale, which is now available to buy on digital platforms like Amazon Prime, takes place entirely in one room. And if you think that sounds more like a play than a movie, you’re on to something. The Whale is based on the 2012 play of the same name about an obese man name Charlie who hides in his living room and isolates himself from the world. It was written by Samuel D. Hunter, who based the story on his own experience with obesity in college, also adapted the screenplay.

Director Darren Aronofsky’s last film, 2017’s mother!, took place entirely in one house, so he’s not a stranger to turning a single location into a feature film. But to go from a whole house to a single room presented a new kind of challenge for Aronofsky and his team. But the team was up to the task. Read on to learn about where The Whale was filmed, and how Aronofsky built his (mostly) one-room set.

Where was The Whale filmed?

The Whale was filmed in New York State, primarily at a studio in Newburgh, New York, which is a city in New York’s Hudson Valley region. In the stage version of The Whale, Brendan Fraser’s character Charlie is marooned on the couch for the entirety of the play, and the audience never leaves his living room. Director Darren Aronofsky more or less adheres to that set-up in the film version, and the production team meticulous built a set for Charlie’s living room at Umbra Studios in Newburgh.

According to an interview for the film’s press notes, Aronofsky and his long-time collaborator, cinematographer Matthew Libatique, planned every angle of the film in advance of shooting. “I knew the actors were prepping their emotional journeys
and I wanted to give them time to do that, so we started with blocking,” Aronofsky said in the interview. “If we could figure out ways to keep things moving it would solve one of the major challenges of the film. The big question was always how do we make a story that takes place all in one apartment, and mostly in one room, feel truly exciting for the audience.”

The director also worked closely with production designers Mark Friedberg and Robert Pyzocha on filling out the room with Charlie’s possessions. “It required clever brilliance from the production designers to bring so much life to this single room. One of the biggest breakthroughs was the placement of Charlie’s couch,” Aronofsky said. “Most apartments have the couch against a wall, but they found a way to float his couch in the middle of the room while keeping it organic. It seems simple, but it perfectly opened everything up and afforded us many more opportunities for movement.”

So there you have it! The Whale was filmed on a set at Umbra Studios in Newburgh, New York, with a lot of meticulous planning.