Brendan Fraser and director Hikari dish on their new film 'Rental Family' and break down the business of renting a person for a specific purpose while chatting at THR's TIFF suite at the 1 Hotel in Toronto. Fraser reveals what initially attracted him to the project while Hikari shares how she knew he was the perfect actor for this movie.
00:00Certainly in a sort of niche market of renting family members, yes, it's new to a Western European audience and it does, on the surface, seem quite curious, even preposterous, but when you look a little bit deeper, you're going to see that it really fulfills a need for people.
00:25When did you two first meet?
00:26I was impressed because I was late to the meeting and I couldn't find parking anywhere in that neighborhood, and she said, oh, just leave it with the guys up front, and I'd already tried that, and they're like, no, no, get out of here, but Hikari called, so they're like, give me the car, give me the car, and I was like, all right, she's got pull, I can do this.
00:42You know, it's interesting because I personally did not know about the business.
00:47There had been a business that you can rent a girlfriend, you can rent advisor, you can rent a man to just give you a life lesson, or you can rent a lab so you can put your head down, right?
00:59So there's a lot of business like that, but the family in particular was something that I was shared by my co-writer who was randomly looking at the job for Americans to do in Tokyo or in Japan, and English teacher, this, the modeling, and being this, the actor was one of them, and that's how we find out.
01:20And then we started doing all the research, and we find out this article, and I was like, oh my goodness, this is a whole thing that I didn't know anything about, and yeah, and then we just went in on deep research, and we interviewed a lot of people who worked in the business as a target to the people who actually be somebody who rents those actors.
01:43I knew that in Tokyo, just about anything is possible, and so far as getting needs fulfilled, it's unique in that way, and the need to connect with what they didn't have, and if even someone's standing in for just a little while, it fulfills that.
02:01But the curious part, and why we made a movie about it, is because, well, what happens after?
02:07What happens when people catch the feels for each other?
02:10What happens when it's not such a ruse any longer, and it's for real?
02:15So deconstructing that is what you see on screen.
02:18Did you have anything in mind for what you wanted to do next, and especially coming off of the year you had with the whale and stuff, what were you...
02:25I was looking for a job.
02:27Yeah.
02:27Come on, you've got so many offers.
02:30I did not have a shiny little man in my possession at the time that I saw this material.
02:35It was an obscure script.
02:39I thought, well, this is...
02:41You're so humble.
02:41No, I'm telling the truth.
02:43This is the kind of thing that I know that typically Hollywood and agents are going, all right, and you relegate it to this sort of niche filmmaking.
02:51That's what I wanted.
02:53I wanted it because it was unique.
02:54I wanted it because we haven't seen this before.
02:56And I wanted it because I'm very, very, well, I'm very selfish and I like to travel.
03:01Yeah.
03:02And I knew he'd go to Japan.
03:03But did you have any questions for him that you needed answered to know he was going to do X, Y, or Z, right, or like you were sold immediately?
03:11I was, you know, I always go with my gut.
03:14That's how I just navigate my life.
03:17Has been ever since I was a little kid.
03:19And when I saw him on this giant screen, he was like 35 feet tall, or whatever the big size was.
03:25And I just, I just knew it.
03:28I just, I was like, oh, there's his, there's my, there's my Philip.
03:31And you know how charming and caring and he was to everybody.
03:36I really wanted him to learn Japanese, which he already says, like, I want to learn Japanese.
03:40I was like, okay, great.
03:42Checkmark.
03:42And do you like to come to talk?
03:45I'm going to be there two months, whatever.
03:46I'll be there.
03:47Checkmark.
03:48And it was just like, it was just so easy.
03:50So easy and so, I mean, he's so collaborative.
03:54And it just, like, it was such a huge collaborating process that I just could not ask for any more greater actors and friends.
04:04She's very talented.
04:05Seriously.
04:06I had great people to work with, surround all the other actors.
04:09Yeah.
04:10Starting with, with Shannon Gorman, who plays my surrogate daughter.
04:15She's a real find.
04:16You'll be hearing more about this kid later.
04:18Akira Emoto, who is a living treasure in Japan.
04:22Takehirohira.
04:23Takehirohira.
04:24Takehirohira.
04:24They were a family already, and they welcomed me into it.
04:28It didn't feel like going to work, per se, for that reason.
04:31He's always, he's, he's, we call it Hashira.
04:35The main, main person, and then we're to gravitate towards him.
04:39And then you just made everybody so easy on set and very kind.
04:43And, yeah.
04:44Fabulous.
04:44Yeah.
04:45Shucks.
04:45Shucks.
04:46Well, thank you guys so much for answering the questions.
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