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- [00:10]
Alison Stewart
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. In the new Film Rental Family. My next guest, Oscar winner Brendan Fraser plays a struggling actor who has been living in Japan for the last seven years. His big break seemed to be a toothpaste commercial, but since then, not so much. One day he's scouted by an agency that specializes in filling in gaps in the way it works is someone wants a friend to join them at a party. So they go to the agency and the agency hires an actor to play that role. Here's a clip from the film when Philip first learns how the whole thing works in a conversation with the boss.
- [00:50]
Philip (character played by Brendan Fraser)
So what do you think we do?
- [00:52]
Brendan Fraser
You have to guess. You. You sell people?
- [01:01]
Philip (character played by Brendan Fraser)
No, no, we sell emotion.
- [01:04]
Hikari (director)
Oh.
- [01:06]
Philip (character played by Brendan Fraser)
How we play roles in clients lives.
- [01:09]
Brendan Fraser
Oh thanks. But you can't just replace someone in your life.
- [01:16]
Philip (character played by Brendan Fraser)
Yes and no. But people are willing to take a leap. The actor, the surrogate. You don't have to be that person. You just have to help clients connect to what's missing. Like what? Well, could be anybody from their life or feeling they once had. Parents, siblings, boyfriends, girlfriends, best friends. We played it all well.
- [01:40]
Brendan Fraser
They could just get a therapist.
- [01:42]
Philip (character played by Brendan Fraser)
It's not that easy here. Mental health issues are stigmatized in this country so people have to turn to other things like us.
- [01:55]
Brendan Fraser
What do you need me for?
- [01:56]
Philip (character played by Brendan Fraser)
We needed to know a white guy. It's a niche market and I need someone to fill the role.
- [02:03]
Alison Stewart
Rental Family was co written and directed by my other guest Hikari. It's in theater starting November 21st. Brendan, it is really nice to meet you.
- [02:11]
Brendan Fraser
Hi Allison, how you do? Nice to meet you.
- [02:12]
Alison Stewart
It's nice to meet you. And Hakari, it's nice to meet you as well.
- [02:14]
Hikari (director)
Hi, nice to meet you too. Thank you for having us.
- [02:16]
Alison Stewart
So the rental agency, this truly exists. When did you first hear about it?
- [02:20]
Hikari (director)
Yes, that was probably around 2018, 2019. One of my, well my co writer Stephen was looking for a random job for American people to do in Japan and there was a cuddling service, there was dating, you know, having a fake girlfriend. And then the rental family story came up and we were like what is this? So we started digging in.
- [02:42]
Alison Stewart
Where did you dig in? How did you start to dig in?
- [02:44]
Hikari (director)
We basically we just. He started on research and then I started looking into. He was going to the English version, I was going to a Japanese websites to see why this business exists and that was kind of like my way into finding you know this the theme of the story and. But yeah, there's a. There's a lot of business. I knew even as a kid, as a teenager, I knew there's business like this existed. And for this one mental family in particular was a. This. We just found this people who owns a business and they're talking about their experience and why this they do what they do. And it was all about from feeling the loneliness of the people in. In Japanese society and which we felt, you know, at that time, I guess when we started digging in was, you know, pandemic was happening and it was just like in a place where we felt like so isolated. So I thought there was something beautiful story that we could potentially create and that was the beginning of it.
- [03:44]
Alison Stewart
So your character's an actor like you.
- [03:48]
Interviewer/Producer
What resonated in this part for you?
- [03:50]
Alison Stewart
Because at first he's. He's not really quite sure that this is the right thing for him.
- [03:55]
Brendan Fraser
I don't know that he's a very good actor to be fair, considering we see him portraying a tree at one point. So there's an argument to be made that he's quite wooden.
- [04:06]
Alison Stewart
Yes. He's got a cup though.
- [04:10]
Brendan Fraser
I think that he got lucky when he first arrived some seven or eight years previously by landing the job as a mascot in commercial for a toothpaste company called Clear Bright. So he's the clearobright man. And that made him somewhat, you know, street famous, Internet famous. But things have been quiet for him and he's lost his, well, his enthusiasm for what he's doing. And he doesn't exactly know why until he encounters a whole host of clients through this rental family agency. And he puts aside the acting, the make believe of it all and begins to invest in real relationships. And all of the nuances, pros and cons of what that would truly be like are what confront him. And that's really the world of the film. What do we see happening when a surrogate encounters reality and the world in between is where our movie lives?
- [05:16]
Alison Stewart
It's really interesting if you look at the details of the film because you get the call, can you be there.
- [05:22]
Interviewer/Producer
At 10am and the clock is like, it's like 9:45.
- [05:26]
Alison Stewart
I got it, I got it.
- [05:27]
Hikari (director)
I'll be there. Oh my God, you got it. It's so awesome.
- [05:30]
Alison Stewart
And you know, when you look around.
- [05:31]
Interviewer/Producer
His apartment, tell me a little bit, either of you about your set decorations, what you wanted Philip's apartment to be like so that we could understand him a little more.
- [05:40]
Hikari (director)
Sure. I just wanted to create the world of really struggling actor. You. Thank you for noticing that it's like he's literally 15 minutes away and he says yes and the Saitama is about an hour and a half away. So he's. It shows that he is desperate for anything. He will say yes to anything. And so those are little things that we wanted. I wanted to add into the story. And you can see his headshots, really cheesy ones on the walls and you can see the standee from you know, being a clear, bright Mr. Cleo bright though I know on the, on the. In the closet because he can't, you know, he' still living in that time. He can't get away from the old time fame. And so for me was just really building the life of who Philip was. But and also the color tone was very important for me. So just kind of started on that darker blue.
- [06:30]
Brendan Fraser
It's a rather lonesome environment that he lives in considering that his neighbors who he kind of pretends to know are across the street in apartments of their own and he'll have a drink in the evening and check in with them unbeknownst to them to see how their lives are going. And in a non creepy sort of Rear window kind of way we see that, you know, he charts their progression as it goes along.
- [06:54]
Hikari (director)
Yeah. And then a lot of garbage trashes around the room in the beginning and then he starts cleaning them up and change the seats rooms around and some.
- [07:03]
Brendan Fraser
Color starts coming into his life because he meets this little girl.
- [07:06]
Interviewer/Producer
It's interesting though, the first job that Philip takes, he almost backs out. It's a wedding. What is it about the wedding that that rocks him to his core that he's thinking I can't go through with this.
- [07:19]
Alison Stewart
He does.
- [07:20]
Interviewer/Producer
But why is he so fearful?
- [07:24]
Brendan Fraser
Well, because he's investing truly in someone's life. He's going to be signing documentation that says I'm married to you. He's basically getting the flop sweats in the most profound way while wearing a kimono.
- [07:40]
Hikari (director)
And he's, you know, he's a nice guy. He's sincerely like truly quite not sure about this business. But he also, you know, want to lie to his parents and you know, he previously met his parents. It's not in the movie but that's already been understood. And in that experience he just, he's trying to figure out what is right for him in that moment. So he chose that one direction. And not to be happy by Aiko's character.
- [08:05]
Brendan Fraser
But as we will learn, it's profound. The reason why he is going to.
- [08:09]
Alison Stewart
Marry this girl yeah, it's interesting, the. The difference between lying and acting. What is it?
- [08:18]
Brendan Fraser
It's a thin line. Well, it's a medium, an art form of make believe to begin with. And so if that's a lie, you need to consider that there's always a little kernel of truth somewhere in there. And when Philip stops the acting, and I put air quotes around that and invests in the relationships with the people he meets, that's when he starts to grow as a human being. And that's when his clients suddenly become actual members of his family too, whether he can control that or not.
- [08:58]
Alison Stewart
I'm speaking to actor Brendan Fraser and director Hikari about their new film, Family Rental. Let's hear a clip from the film. This is after he finally goes through with marrying this woman. It's a conversation between Flip and Aik, who works at the family agency. Let's take a quick listen.
- [09:16]
Aiko (character in the film)
You knew the situation. You knew we were her last option and you still nearly backed out.
- [09:21]
Brendan Fraser
But I didn't.
- [09:22]
Aiko (character in the film)
But you would have seen. You're just a gaijin. You will never understand how things work here.
- [09:36]
Philip (character played by Brendan Fraser)
You're right.
- [09:36]
Brendan Fraser
I am giant. But Japan is my home now. And I want to try to understand. Why do you do this?
- [09:47]
Philip (character played by Brendan Fraser)
What?
- [09:47]
Brendan Fraser
This job. You're so passionate about it. Why?
- [09:58]
Aiko (character in the film)
It's the way these people look at you, like they've been waiting for you their whole lives. Despite everything Dada says, these people stay with you. Sometimes all we need is someone to look us in the eye and remind us we exist.
- [10:20]
Alison Stewart
In that film, Eiko calls Philip gaijin, which could be translated to foreigner. Is that.
- [10:25]
Hikari (director)
Yep, foreigner.
- [10:26]
Alison Stewart
What does that mean for her and what does that mean for him?
- [10:30]
Hikari (director)
So for Aiko, gaijin is, you know, it's a just. In Japanese, it's a foreigner. But then if you write it also in Chinese character, it means outsider. So there's two different meanings to it. But when somebody says to a foreigner person, you're gaijin, it's a little bit harsh words to say, but in that moment, Aiko was very much upset and she really needed him to understand why he's been called that way. And even though he said after, she feel guilty for saying it because you can see it in her performance. But for him taking that words in, there's. That there's a perseverance. So he, he's there to. He wants to understand that he's. Even though he lives in this world, he looks nothing like Japanese. He's totally a new, you know, still a foreigner. But he's there because he wants to. He wants to be part of this culture. And there's that. His effort by him saying, I want to understand is. I think there's a lot of, you know, as a foreigner to say that I want to be there instead of getting upset. It says something about his personality and as a character. So, yeah, I guess it is a little harsh word to hear. And what do you think?
- [11:45]
Brendan Fraser
Sometimes you need to hear the truth about it. And he is someone who's been living in the country for some seven years. He is, in a way, kind of on the run from wherever he came from. But it was seven years previously. And there's got to be a reason why he has chosen to not live in the United States. Dutch, nudge, wink, wink. But he definitely has an awakening and a journey that he needs to go on. And it's one where he reckons and learns that he does have paternal instincts that he didn't know he had. He does have issues with fatherhood himself, his own father. And as we see him grow in his relationship with a new client called Kikuo, who is a famed actor who is sadly in his library near the twilight of his years and concerned that he's losing his memory. And his daughter has hired Philip to be a reporter. Another ruse to write his story. But as things go along, of course, the make believe of that becomes really the truth. And he sees in this old man a father figure for himself.
- [13:01]
Aiko (character in the film)
Yeah, it's interesting.
- [13:03]
Alison Stewart
Yeah.
- [13:04]
Hikari (director)
So, I mean, for me, it was the Philip. I want the audience, everybody who's watching to really experience the life of Philip, but also put themselves in the shoes of him and how, how they. How you. You continue to pursue what. And listen to the gut and say, how do I choose your path? It was very much of example of, like him trying to get to the next place. As he get into the next place. I'm so sorry. As he gets the next places. And. And the phrase is just because he's really trying, wanting to learn, he's making the move in his life. And that was like something that I really focused on. If he could say, no, I don't want to do this, that's the end of the movie. Right? But he continues to pursue, continue to say, I want to do better for other people. And that eventually lead him to somewhat understanding for who he is and just opening up the door for him and meeting all these different lives that he never expect and then kind of eventually changes his perspective in life. That was kind of the. That was the Pivotal moment when he says, I want to. I would. I still want to try to understand. Yeah.
- [14:13]
Interviewer/Producer
We're talking about the Film Rental Family. We'll have more after a quick break. This is all of It.
- [14:29]
Alison Stewart
You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guests are actor Brendan Fraser and director Hikari. We're talking about their new film Family Rental. It's about an agency that specializes in filling in the gaps in people's lives, hiring out actors to play parts. And in this film, Brendan Philip plays two roles that become really meaningful to him personally. One is with this writer that we're talking about, this famous writer who needs someone to remember him. And then you become a father for a girl. It's interesting because the older man becomes a father to you. You become a father to the girl. Why do these two jobs take a hold on him?
- [15:13]
Brendan Fraser
On Philip, the last thing he expected was to make it sincere and authentic. Connection. And taking one look at first of all, the actress who plays young Mia. Her name is Shannon Gorman and she's a newcomer and she's just fantastic. This kid has an emotional bandwidth that's astonishing. Something about her embodies the need for this role. Shannon's mom is Japanese. Her father is Irish, and that also is the requirement of the part. She understands a great deal about who this kid would be. Having felt as if she'd been spoken of, as if she doesn't speak Japanese because she doesn't look Japanese enough to some people and vice versa. She has a sense of gravity about her and an old soul. So it was almost as if there's no acting required. We chose to not rehearse too much because we wanted to save it for the take.
- [16:15]
Alison Stewart
Interesting. Oh, that's interesting.
- [16:16]
Brendan Fraser
And certainly with Kikuo, who is played by Akira Emoto san, who is a living treasure in the field of acting in Japan as it is. So again, no acting required in that way.
- [16:32]
Alison Stewart
I just showed up to work and.
- [16:34]
Hikari (director)
You know, that's the way it went. Exactly.
- [16:40]
Brendan Fraser
He I less than him taking on a mentor mentee relationship. He does see the value in being allowed to regain the memories that he believes that he's lost by enlisting the help of this younger man to take him on a journey of discovery. Rediscovery. I think that the aspect of make believe and reality are really where the world of this movie lives and what happens in those cloudy ethical moral dilemmas that could ensue. But what Hikari's done is take a very close look at that Sort of a sticky operation. That sort of feeling that are we doing something right, are we doing something wrong? And approaching it with truth and with honesty rather than putting air quotation marks around it.
- [17:37]
Hikari (director)
Yeah.
- [17:38]
Alison Stewart
What was something that you had to do as a director? Because all the directors I talked to have to make decisions. That's what directors do. They make decisions into decisions. A decision that might have been a little bit hard. But you're glad that you made it.
- [17:51]
Hikari (director)
Hmm. That's a great question, Alison. Well, I think for. I can tell the little girl portion. Right. Because is it right to lie to a little girl? You know, from a mother point of view, it. That's the biggest question we all had from writing. You know, from writing script all the way to. Even in editing. You know, we're like we constantly. How can we navigate so that it feels like it's. You know, she's really thinking all really thinking about is her future. And I grew up with a single parent. My mom lied to me all the time. That was another story that I kind of put it in and. But at the end of all the lies, from my experience, there was a humongous amount of love. She really cared for me, for my everything that I would about to face in reality. And so for me, having Miya's mom lying because she wants really care for her future. And it is a fact that, you know, if you're a single parent in our culture, in Japanese culture, sometimes it's difficult to get into some of the schools or you know, businesses or even being employee. You don't have a parents, then most likely major company won't hire you. So these are things that I really wanted to take a look and say are you guys making a right decision? There should not be any issues if you have a parents or single parent. So there's a. There's a lot of mix of message or I should say taking a look of Japanese culture and the decisions that the higher up are making. And same thing along the way with Aiko who has also struggled with some of the. Yeah. The issues that she's facing in the past with the entertainment business in Japan. So I don't know, it might be look it just one direction but you maybe watch it second time, third time. I think there's a lot more that you can get out of that we're trying to achieve.
- [19:52]
Brendan Fraser
This is a single mother who's just trying to do right by her kid in the only way that she knows how. And you know what? I'm a parent. I make mistakes. You're doing what you can with what you have at the time. Sometimes you gotta eat crow.
- [20:06]
Interviewer/Producer
Sometimes you gotta hire a white guy.
- [20:08]
Hikari (director)
To be your ex husband.
- [20:10]
Brendan Fraser
Exactly.
- [20:11]
Hikari (director)
Exactly. Yeah.
- [20:13]
Interviewer/Producer
What was a piece of direction that Hikari gave you, Brendan, that you really internalized? And you think, you know what, I may use that in the future. Or at least used it really well in this film.
- [20:26]
Brendan Fraser
She said, you're hired. Does that count? I was astonished when we first met. It was for a quick lunch which stretched into about six hours into a hotel library. And we wound up going through all the books in the library. She showed me so much about Japan through the artists that she found there. And we just learned that we had an understanding to collaborate on something that's unique, that I think is a movie that we need now more than ever, considering there's really no villain apart from apathy in this movie.
- [21:00]
Interviewer/Producer
Yeah. The notion of you're not even a villain.
- [21:02]
Brendan Fraser
No, not even close. But will you do something about this or not? That's the big challenge. Because the movie itself really is. It's a love letter to loneliness. It's addressed to Tokyo, but it could be anywhere.
- [21:15]
Hikari (director)
Yeah.
- [21:16]
Interviewer/Producer
Did you speak Japanese before this film?
- [21:17]
Brendan Fraser
I had a few words. Not the useful ones, but the ones that I learned were because I had so much help around. And I should say that Akira Emoto speaks and learn more English for this role than I learned to speak Japanese. So I defer to my elders on that.
- [21:37]
Hikari (director)
Well, I have to put it on because. Because he was. I mean, thank God he took Japanese lessons for, you know, four or five months. That too, prior to production. And then on set, we had a Japanese dialect coach that he was, you know, really talking to him every day before she, you know, before he went on set. So I was very grateful for his dedication.
- [22:00]
Interviewer/Producer
You could have picked another actor who spoke Japanese. Why did you pick Brendan for this role?
- [22:04]
Hikari (director)
I mean, I always go with my instinct. And when I watched his human in the Whale, and then after that Q and A, I saw him on this big screen and how kind he was, how passionate he was with the project. I just, you know, he was always my favorite actor. And then I just saw the depth in his, you know, in the performance, but also who he is. You know, there's something in his eyes that I just couldn't think anybody else in that moment.
- [22:31]
Brendan Fraser
So at the moment, it's a bit of dust, actually.
- [22:36]
Hikari (director)
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. It was easy. It was easy.
- [22:40]
Interviewer/Producer
I mean, when you think you mentioned that there's not a villain in the story. What interested you in a film that didn't have a villain? Because that's unique.
- [22:51]
Brendan Fraser
That's the reason. Operative word, unique. It's all in the title. Rental family. What is that? And if you were to really rent a family member, who would it be? I know the answer to mine. I'm the fourth of four sons. I always wanted a sister.
- [23:07]
Alison Stewart
You'd rent yourself a sister?
- [23:08]
Hikari (director)
Yeah. Now you got one Japanese sister.
- [23:10]
Brendan Fraser
I did. I found one sister from another mister over here.
- [23:14]
Hikari (director)
Yeah, I think it's, you know, it is a question, a big question of like, who would you hire? And I think anybody could have. You know, for me, it's like the moment of reflection in life. Are we spending good time with your family member? Are we, you know, really calling and reaching out to the people you haven't talked to? That kind of stuff. And then also loneliness could also divide, avoided if we all look out for each other. I think really it's the theme of the movie as I hope that audience will take away. And also look into yourself because you're the divine being. Right.
- [23:47]
Alison Stewart
So did you figure out what the source of loneliness is?
- [23:51]
Brendan Fraser
Philip's loneliness? Yeah, I think. I think that he had given in to apathy when we. When we meet him. And so he's going through almost chrysalis, like transformation by stories. And the source of it had to do. Yeah. With his own issues back home, whatever they were, he was on the run from them. And he learned, like many do in any major metropolis city where it's just a beehive of activity, it is possible to experience solitude in a way that's unhealthy. And you know what? He fell victim to that too.
- [24:29]
Alison Stewart
Did you figure out what loneliness was after watching this movie?
- [24:32]
Hikari (director)
Wow. I watched it a million times, so it's really hard. But for me it was a loneliness could come from any. Any places. Like, you know, being alone at home, obviously, and then also not really having anybody around you. But I think for that loneliness could definitely with the people, the community, community of friends, people, co worker, you know, if you just surround yourself with that people, even though you may don't have a perfect relationship with your own family. Found family is. That's what we're, you know, after found. Family is everything. And we're all just a human being. We're just trying to connect with people. That connection very important.
- [25:14]
Brendan Fraser
We all want to belong at the end of the day, you know, we feel there's something standing the way. Like we're looking in through a window. And it you can't join in, but this is one way you can.
- [25:25]
Hikari (director)
And then I feel like the people who are, like, you know, feel alone, then you do have to make that first step.
- [25:31]
Alison Stewart
That's it. Wait, explain more.
- [25:33]
Hikari (director)
Yeah, so if you make a first step of really trying to reach out or just pick up a phone call or just don't stay inside, walk outside and then just people. You walk around and just bump into somebody, don't be afraid to talk to. You know, big city like this is, people might think it's crazy, but even that, you know, but you come from a general generosity, the kindness, the hip heart. And I think we can actually find a connection in anywhere. But you do have to make the first step. And everybody's there, you know, here for us, for all of us are here for each other. So I really hope, you know, the movie will give that message to everybody.
- [26:10]
Alison Stewart
The name of the film is Rental Family. I've been speaking with actor Brendan Fraser and director Hikari. Thank you so much for coming to the studio.
- [26:19]
Brendan Fraser
My pleasure.
- [26:19]
Hikari (director)
My pleasure. Thank you.
- [26:21]
Alison Stewart
There's more, all of it on the way.