Brendan Fraser heads to Japan for his latest film, Rental Family. The dramedy from Beef director Hikari centers on a struggling actor who finds work in Japan playing an American for rental families. It’s an unusual part of Japanese culture, but one that was previously featured in Werner Herzog’s 2019 film Family Romance, LLC.
In Rental Family, Fraser’s character is an American actor who takes a job with the Japanese Rental Family Agency, meaning he’s hired by complete strangers to play a member of their family. While standing-in for people in these households, he builds unexpected connections with them.
Hikari directs from a script she co-wrote with Stephen Blahut. Also in the cast are Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Akira Emoto, and Shannon Gorman.
This is a change of pace from the heavy dramatic roles Fraser has been doing lately, including his Academy Award-winning performance in The Whale and Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
SYNOPSIS: 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.
Rental Family opens on November 21st from Searchlight Pictures.
