Director Hikari feels grateful, in additional methods than one, for latest Oscar winner Brendan Fraser agreeing to star in “Rental Household,” her sophomore characteristic. “He was very cautious with what he was going to decide on. I believe he acquired 70 scripts despatched his means after successful the Oscar,” mentioned the filmmaker to IndieWire throughout an interview on the 2025 Middleburg Movie Pageant.
As she was changing into a rising star in TV directing, having labored on the Michael Mann-produced “Tokyo Vice,” and Emmy winner “Beef,” Hikari had invested years in growing the “Rental Household” script with co-writer Stephen Blahut. The pair had initially envisioned their protagonist Phillip, an expat actor whose profession has waned, to the purpose the place he takes a job taking part in stand-in roles for strangers, as youthful, however proper as she started considering “an older gentleman felt slightly bit extra lonely in a means that it felt proper. That’s after I went to see ‘The Whale,’ through the BAFTA screening in California,” mentioned the director.
Fraser, Zooming into the theater, together with his face taking over 30 toes of the display, had been a revelation. “Once I noticed him I simply felt, ‘Oh, there’s my Philip,” she mentioned. “He’s such a sort soul.”
Empathy is an enormous theme within the movie, because the idea of rental households, the place folks can rent actors who will do something for them, resembling pose as a journalist with a purpose to hold an aged filmmaker occupied and vital, or fake to be the daddy of a younger woman with a purpose to assist her single mom get her into an elite college, stems from the completely different relationship Japanese folks have with psychological well being points.
“Psychological well being could be very difficult and it’s probably not accessible for lots of people in Japan. So due to this fact this enterprise exists,” mentioned Hikari, who was born and raised in Osaka. “There’s a phrase known as ‘honne,’ which is a real feeling and ‘honne’ is a thought. So we had been taught to not present your true feelings however at all times hold it [inside] to create concord. As a result of we’re a village tradition. And also you don’t wish to be outspoken, you simply at all times have to remain in place.”
The author/director stumbled on a distinct understanding of relationships and communities as a overseas alternate scholar finding out in Utah towards the tip of highschool. “What I skilled again then, the folks I’m nonetheless good mates with to this present day, is a extremely nice instance of how household may be discovered anyplace,” she mentioned. That have is what had sparked the query that gave “Rental Household” life: “Regardless that you’re the one one within the room, what sort of connections and friendship can we create?”
Fish-out-of-water tales are widespread sufficient in cinema to the place those set in Japan could possibly be their very own subgenre, however they typically learn in a gawkier, extra judgmental means. “Rental Household” flips the script on Hikari’s private cross-cultural expertise to deliver her newly American perspective to the setting of her native nation. In that respect, although “Rental Household” facilities on a white American man, the director emphasizes “He’s not a white savior. He’s so on the bottom, on the underside.”
In the end, the position of Phillip was open to anybody, so long as they weren’t Japanese, as Hikari fearful a model of the movie with all locals might have an effect on the scope of its attraction. “No matter it takes to go exterior of Japan, I’m all for it,” she mentioned. “If Phillip was a Japanese man, we’re going to watch a Japanese film. And since Phillip is Caucasian, lots of people exterior of Japan can relate to him, no matter in the event that they’re a lady or not, as a result of you’re the token white — the one one in Japan. So, I actually wish to give that have to the viewers, to allow them to simply observe his footsteps all the way in which all through the film,” mentioned Hikari. “What’s vital for me is that it doesn’t matter what nationality we’re, what we appear like, we may be household and we are able to create love, we are able to create friendship.”
Even behind the scenes, Fraser grew to become an enormous a part of establishing that ethos. “He’s at all times cautious. He’s continually speaking to people who find themselves simply the PAs. And strolling on set from the automobile to wherever he goes, he says hello to all people. And when he leaves he says thanks to each single particular person, that’s who he’s,” mentioned the director.
“Rental Household” would go on to win the Viewers Award at Middleburg, as it might at a number of different festivals just like the Chicago Worldwide Movie Pageant and the Woodstock Movie Pageant, garnering it some awards consideration. However Hikari’s method to Oscars season has been to remind herself, “We made one thing very particular, and that vitality simply wants to remain optimistic. It’s all vitality in my thoughts,” she mentioned. “Making this film and getting this a lot reward or love from the viewers, we already received. I already received the prize by simply seeing how related the audiences are all around the globe.”
Whereas any nominations could be nice, the director mentioned “it’s extra vital that I get to speak to the viewers about my expertise as a result of that have, in the event that they hear it, they’re going to see it from a distinct standpoint.” At Middleburg, after receiving a standing ovation, Hikari ended the “Rental Household” screening telling them to “go house and name your folks you’re keen on. Be sure to join with them” as a result of “Household is one thing that we create.” If there’s one takeaway from the movie, let it’s “Group: come collectively, that’s how we create our lovely life,” she mentioned.
Subsequent up: One of many initiatives Hikari is growing is the inverse of “Rental Household,” titled “Made in Utah,” which might be a TV collection extra instantly representing her expertise coming to America as an alternate scholar, and “dwelling in Utah with a really dysfunctional Mormon household,” she mentioned. The present has Annapurna as a producer, however remains to be discovering a community house. She and Blahut are additionally writing a feminine samurai movie, based mostly on a real story.
“Rental Household,” a Searchlight Footage launch, is now out there on PVOD.
