Cheyenne Suarez

Article (news)

How Brendan Fraser relates to role in 'Rental Family'

Yong Chavez

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1764129367287Brendan.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Brendan Fraser in &#x27;Rental Family.&#x27; Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures"/>Brendan Fraser in &#x27;Rental Family.&#x27; Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures</div>(UPDATE) By the time Brendan Fraser starts reenacting his &quot;Rental Family&quot; character’s cheesy toothpaste-commercial catchphrase — “Only brush the ones you want to keep!” — the Zoom room is already cracking up. The Searchlight Pictures comedy-drama thrives in that sweet spot where earnestness and absurdity rub shoulders, the same terrain Fraser has quietly mastered throughout his comeback.In the film, Fraser plays Phillip, an American adrift in Tokyo who signs up to work for a “rental family” agency, a real-life service in Japan and other parts of Asia where actors stand in as relatives, partners or companions for clients who need them. It’s a premise that could slide into cynicism, but in the hands of writer-director Hikari, the film leans into something softer: improvising connection in a world starved for it.Fraser knows that feeling. “I know what it feels like to be the fish out of water,” he says. “I’ve had my moments of loneliness. So yeah, I could absolutely connect with a guy like Phillip,” he said in an interview.“I could connect with him, too, in the sense that he’s an actor of a sort… who may not be very talented. He does play a tree at one point,” he added with a laugh.It’s an irresistibly Fraser flourish: always self-effacing, kind eyes flashing with sincerity and effortless charm. And it explains why Hikari saw Phillip in him long before he knew it himself.“I got to see him in &#x27;The Whale,&#x27; how vulnerable he was and how strong still in certain moments,” Hikari recalled.After a Q&amp;A, Hikari watched him interact with cast and crew. “He was so passionate, so caring. Experiencing who he is as a person, I felt in my gut he was my Phillip. That was it,” she said.Fraser’s co-stars Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto, both breakout presences in Hollywood period epics &quot;Shōgun&quot; and &quot;Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,&quot; relished the chance to play modern-day characters who are allowed to be messy rather than mythic.“This character felt really close to home,” Yamamoto said. “She is an actor who came to this job and found purpose in it. And we as actors know those times when you couldn’t act and you’re doing something else but finding meaning in it. It felt even more vulnerable, maybe.”Hira, long typecast as in villain roles, shared: “But for this one, I had to play comedic beats, and it was a little challenging.”Fraser quickly chimed in to express admiration for Hira’s work in the film.“Oh my God, when he’s explaining to a client that he’s a cockroach,” Fraser said, his eyes widening. “Then going back and forth on the phone, side-coaching Phillip, who’s having a nervous breakdown. ‘She hates me, she hates me.’ And he goes, ‘That’s what being a parent is.’”Yamamoto also praised her costar and friend. “He’s so villainized in his roles, but he’s so nice and funny in real life. I’m so happy to see him get to play these kinds of roles.”Fraser weighed in: “As a thespian, I would like to say that a villain does not know he’s a villain. He thinks he’s a good guy. Everybody else is on him.”Their banter is effortless, proving that their chemistry on-screen extended behind the scenes.&quot;Rental Family&quot; writer-director Hikari has been fascinated for years by the real-world business of rental relatives, a service that’s existed in Japan since the 1980s.“There are about 300 companies,” she said. “For me it was the phenomenon of why this business exists. What kind of people use it? What chemistry happens within that?”The more Hikari researched the service, the more she found something quietly moving.“People who pretend to be a family for somebody else actually become the real family,” she said. “Even though they’re paid hourly, they’re giving with gratitude. And the people hiring them say, ‘Thank you for spending time with me.’ That energy exchange is beautiful. Sharing the gratitude. That’s where it starts.”Strangers who are paid to perform intimacy and then stumbling into the real thing is the emotional engine of the film. Fraser plays that sweet awkwardness perfectly. Phillip isn’t heroic in the traditional sense. He’s not suave or assured. He loves acting, but not necessarily great at it. In the beginning of the movie, he’s a man gently spiraling into a midlife unraveling. “He loves his job, although his skill comes into play so much more effectively when he signs up with the rental family agency,” Fraser said.Hikari’s film resonates in a moment when connection feels both pressured and precious.“There’s a lot of separation,” she said. “Technology, the world, everything. I wanted to write a movie that connects us and shows that it’s okay to be vulnerable. Chances are there’s going to be a person who comes along and says, ‘I’m with you.’”