Synopsis

Set against modern-day Tokyo, RENTAL FAMILY follows an American actor (Brendan 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. Searchlight Pictures presents RENTAL FAMILY, directed, co-written and produced by HIKARI (“Beef”, “Tokyo Vice”, 37 Seconds). The film stars Academy Award® and Screen Actors Guild award winner Brendan Fraser (The Whale, The Mummy, Encino Man) with a supporting cast that includes Emmy® nominee Takehiro Hira (“Shogun”), Mari Yamamoto (“Pachinko,” “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”), Akira Emoto (Lovers Lost, Shin Godzilla, Dr. Akagi) and newcomer Shannon Gorman. With a screenplay by HIKARI and Stephen Blahut (37 Seconds), the film is produced by Sight Unseen Pictures’ Julia Lebedev (Dear White People, Bad Education) and Eddie Vaisman (Wildlife, A Thousand and One), as well as Knockonwood’s Shin Yamaguchi (37 Seconds, Spirit World). Jennifer Semler (A Real Pain, Theater Camp), Tomo Koizumi, Blahut, Leonid Lebedev (Bad Education), Fraser, and Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Love & Mercy) are executive producers. Joining filmmaker HIKARI behind the camera are director of photography Takurô Ishizaka (All of Us Strangers, Snake Eyes), production designers Norihiro Asoda (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi) and Masako Takayama (“Tokyo Vice”), editors Alan Baumgarten and Thomas A. Kruger, composers Jónsi and Alex Somers, costume designer Meg Mochizuki (37 Seconds), makeup department head Hiromi Momose (Like Father, Like Son), and casting directors Kei Kawamura and Yumi Takada.