When You Can Enjoy Brendan Fraser’s Rental Family at Home

Brendan Fraser’s Rental Family Set for Home Release

Brendan Fraser’s heartwarming film, Rental Family, will be available for digital viewing on January 13, followed by a Blu-Ray and DVD release on February 17, as confirmed by industry sources.

In this poignant film from Searchlight Pictures, Fraser portrays Philip, an American actor living in Japan. His character takes on a unique role, serving as a stand-in for strangers seeking personal connections. "As performance begins to blur with reality, the immersive role-playing awakens his humanity and compassion, drawing him deeply into his clients’ lives," the film’s synopsis reveals.

The home release will feature a special behind-the-scenes featurette titled "Rental Family Revealed," showcasing Fraser, writer-director Hikari, and a largely Japanese cast as they discuss the making of the film. Additionally, audiences can expect nine deleted and extended scenes.

Rental Family premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. During a Q&A session following the debut, Fraser shared that he adapted to the film’s setting by learning Japanese through mimicking sounds. “What you didn’t see through the magic of editing was people feeding me lines as I made them sound as if they were my own,” he explained.

Fraser expressed the film’s potential impact in an interview, stating it aims to "satisfy everyone’s need to feel like [they] belong somewhere in the world, even when they’re at their lowest."

The actor also emphasized his immersive preparation for the role, revealing he spent significant time in Tokyo, “wandering the streets with my pocket translator trying to talk to anybody.” This experience, he noted, was “one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve had in my career.”

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Shannon Gorman and Brendan Fraser in Rental Family.
Searchlight Pictures

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Takehiro Hira and Brendan Fraser in Rental Family.
Searchlight Pictures