Brendan Fraser moved to tears as new movie The Whale receives six-minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival

After retreating from the spotlight for nearly a decade, Brendan Fraser's return to Hollywood at the 79th Venice Film Festival was met with many tears.

The actor made a rare red carpet appearance for the premiere of The Whale over the weekend and was overcome with emotion as he received a "six-minute standing ovation" when his name appeared in the credits.

The 53-year-old - who is already garnering Oscar buzz for the role - underwent a dramatic physical transformation and donned prosthetics to portray a 270kg man confined to a wheelchair in Darren Aronofsky's psychological drama.

The George of the Jungle actor spent as much as six hours in the makeup chair each day to fully transform into the character.

Aronofsky's film is based on the play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter. 

The movie focuses on the life of a man living with obesity named Charlie, who is seeking to reunite with his estranged teenage daughter, played by Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, after abandoning his wife and child for a gay lover.

Charlie became morbidly obese after developing a compulsive eating disorder to deal with his lover's death.

It marks Brendan's first lead role in a movie since straight-to-DVD thriller Breakout in 2013.

The Whale will reportedly hit cinemas on December 9.