Brendan Fraser goes abroad for his latest film, “Rental Family,” to play an expat in Tokyo. The Best Actor Oscar winner leads the drama from “Beef” director HIKARI, who co-wrote the script with Stephen Blahut.
Fraser stars as a struggling actor hired to play a token American man for a Japanese “rental family” company in Tokyo. The role? Acting as a stand-in for other people’s lives for their milestone events.
The synopsis reads: “Set against modern-day Tokyo, ‘Rental Family’ follows an American actor (Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese ‘rental family’ agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection.”
Related Stories
Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Gorman, and Akira Emoto co-star.
“Rental Family” will premiere at TIFF. Deadline previously reported that the film had been in development since 2019; “The Whale” star Fraser was cast as the lead in 2023.
“Rental Family” is produced by HIKARI, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, and Shin Yamaguchi. Vaisman and Lebedev of Sight Unseen produced past Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner “A Thousand and One,” while Yamaguchi produced HIKARI’s prior feature “37 Seconds.” Blahut and Tomo Koizumi executive produce.
Searchlight will release “Rental Family” in theaters November 21 after its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, where HIKARI also receives a festival tribute award. Check out the trailer below.
