Martin Scorsese comments on Brendan Fraser's Killers Of The Flower Moon performance, coins incredible new phrase

Step aside, Pete and Ariana: there’s a new phallic phrase-coiner in town. And he’s none other than legendary director Martin Scorsese. Honestly, is there anything the guy can’t do?

It’s 2023 and Pete Davidson is no longer the only person embodying the ideals of big dick energy, according to Scorsese. Well… more or less. In a recent press conference, the director took some time to praise Brendan Fraser’s controversial Killers Of The Flower Moon performance, which has divided audiences since the minute the film was released. In his approximately seven minutes of screen time, Fraser really bursts onto the scene as attorney W.S. Hamilton, in an appearance that can mostly be described as “a lot.” (It’s best enjoyed unaware, so if you haven’t seen it, we won’t spoil too much here. You’ll know it when you see it.)

For Scorsese, however, Fraser’s take on the character was “perfect.” “We thought he’d be great for the lawyer and I admired his work over the years,” he said (via Variety). “We had a really good time working together, particularly with Leo. Particularly in the scene where he says, [SPOILER ALERT FOR FRASER’S FUNNIEST LINE] ‘They’re putting a noose around your neck, he’s saving you dumb boy.’”

“Really for us, when we heard that… he brought the whole scene down on Leo. It was perfect,” he continued. “And he had that girth. He’s big in the frame at that time. He’s a wonderful actor and he was just great to work with.” Let’s read that again together, shall we? “He had that girth.”

Apart from the usual platitudes, it’s pretty clear that Scorsese is really trying to compliment the physical space Fraser takes up in the frame at the moment he’s introduced, which is either a fairly bizarre comment on the actor’s physical size or a self-congratulatory nod to his own camera-work. Either way, it’s a pretty wild thing to say, even in context. But does context really matter when you’ve invented a phrase like “he had that girth?” In the words of one enthusiastic Twitter/X user, those four words have “gotta join the collective lexicon, like years from now no one remembering its origin, it’s just something we say.” He had that girth! Scorsese should be our next poet laureate.

The director and master wordsmith isn’t the only one to come out in Fraser’s defense. Last week, Apple Original Films also weighed in with a sassy little post highlighting the original text that Fraser likely took his on-screen enthusiasm from. “Note the exclamation point,” they wrote. The The Whale actor’s performance may not net him any Oscars this time around, but one thing’s for sure: if there was an award ceremony for generating great memes, those seven minutes would win them all.