{"id":193783,"date":"2025-11-22T04:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T04:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/193783\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T04:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T04:32:09","slug":"brendan-fraser-gives-warnings-on-ai-and-talks-rental-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/193783\/","title":{"rendered":"Brendan Fraser Gives Warnings on AI and Talks ‘Rental Family’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThree years after his triumphant Oscar win for \u201cThe Whale,\u201d Brendan Fraser<\/a> has found his next deeply personal project in an unlikely place: Tokyo. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn Hikari\u2019s \u201cRental Family<\/a>,\u201d Fraser plays Philip, an American actor adrift in Japan who discovers unexpected purpose \u2014 and genuine human connection \u2014 when he\u2019s hired to play a surrogate family member for people struggling with loneliness.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film arrives at a moment when its themes feel particularly urgent. \u201cThis film really doesn\u2019t have a declared villain,\u201d Fraser says on the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast<\/a>, settling into a conversation about the project that took him back overseas. \u201cI mean, there are obstacles, of course, but they\u2019re really our social, personal constructs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Fraser, the appeal was immediate and multifaceted. \u201cAutomatically, selfishly, I thought, dream job,\u201d he admits with characteristic self-awareness. \u201cGoing overseas. Location is vacant till you get there and like, oh, wow, I gotta do some work here. Learn enough Japanese to have passable dialogue. Going to have to run around Tokyo and it\u2019s a busy, busy place.\u201d But beyond the logistical challenges was something deeper \u2014 a script that treated its unusual premise with intelligence and emotional honesty.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe premise itself is rooted in reality. Three hundred rental family agencies are operating in Tokyo, a business that has existed since the 1980s. In a society grappling with the \u201cactual public health issues\u201d Fraser describes around solitude and loneliness, these agencies serve a specific need. \u201cSometimes people just want you to look them in the eyes and to let them know that you know that they exist, and that\u2019s enough,\u201d Fraser says. \u201cBut this film does go further than that and asks, what happens after that, when make-believe falls away and feelings and attachments become authentic, what is the result?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRENTAL FAMILY, Brendan Fraser, 2025. \u00a9 Searchlight Pictures \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Searchlight Pictures\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tFraser\u2019s collaboration with director Hikari began with what he describes as an hours-long lunch that turned into an exploration of art and shared sensibilities. \u201cI think pretty much we were talking about most anything but the film in an affected way,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI know we were finding a kinship with one another in the things that interested us in our approach to the work.\u201d The director, whose name means \u201clight, fire, energy,\u201d brought personal investment to the material, having experienced events in her own life that connected to the story\u2019s themes.<\/p>\n

\n\tPlaying Philip allowed Fraser to explore his own relationship with loneliness, a universal experience that takes on particular dimensions in the public eye. When asked about his own encounters with isolation, Fraser is thoughtfully candid: \u201cI try to chase it away. I try to keep myself busy. Or sometimes I\u2019ll accept it and sit in it. And it\u2019s possible to feel alone, although you are not. You don\u2019t want to intrude on anyone\u2019s personal life. But I think you can identify with \u2014 even having company doesn\u2019t give you a sense of feeling less lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYet there\u2019s hope in his perspective, a recognition of what truly sustains us. \u201cSecretly, when I do sit down for a cup of coffee with a friend I haven\u2019t seen in a while, I\u2019m kind of doing that,\u201d he says about the rental family concept. \u201cThere\u2019s a reason why we call your brother, and it refuels you. It really does. It really does give you something that you can\u2019t buy or ingest or wear or any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Fraser continues this remarkable second act of his career, he\u2019s balancing intimate character studies with blockbuster possibilities. The World War II drama \u201cPressure\u201d is awaiting release, and, perhaps most exciting for fans, a potential return to the \u201cThe Mummy<\/a>\u201d franchise looms on the horizon. \u201cI am very hopeful that this comes to fruition,\u201d Fraser says carefully, acknowledging the speculation that\u2019s been swirling. \u201cIt\u2019s what they want. It\u2019s what they\u2019ve been begging for, from me. And I\u2019ve been peppered with the question: \u201cWill there be another?\u201d Hey, look, if the stars align in the right way, I hope I have happy news for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked about other franchise opportunities \u2014 specifically the upcoming \u201cLegend of Zelda\u201d film adaptation \u2014 Fraser\u2019s enthusiasm is palpable. A devoted gamer who admits to distracting himself with his Nintendo DS playing as Link in Hyrule, he\u2019s unequivocal: yes, if there was a part for him, but he doesn\u2019t think there is. It\u2019s this combination of childlike wonder and hard-earned wisdom that makes Fraser such a compelling figure in Hollywood\u2019s current landscape.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn this episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Fraser discusses his role in Hikari\u2019s moving dramedy. In addition, he teases where he thinks his \u201cThe Mummy\u201d character would be today and how much he loves \u201cThe Legend of Zelda\u201d (and the changes he wants to make to the video game). Listen below!<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRENTAL FAMILY, from left: Brendan Fraser, Shannon Gorman, 2025. \u00a9 Searchlight Pictures \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Searchlight Pictures\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tRead excerpts from her interview below, which has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe film centers on a rental family agency, a real business in Tokyo. How did you first react to this premise?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, you can rent just about anything in Tokyo. You can rent a hedgehog. I\u2019ve done it. Why not be able to rent a family? Tokyo is so busy as it is; there is a real need for connection, because a lot of people find themselves wrapped up in company and also feeling like they have not had fulfillment from their own family members, so they rent them, if only for an hour or two or three, someone to sit quietly with them or to attend an event. You can even have someone stand in at a wedding or hire the so-called extras at a funeral if you need to, just to let people know that they\u2019re seen and they\u2019re heard, and that has real value. And I know there are some ethical and moral issues surrounding the whole thing. And that\u2019s the point: when you make believe about reality, what do you get? And so that\u2019s the sort of blurry area in between that Hikari directs this story.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat drew you to this project specifically?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI did need to look for something that would follow up on the events of the Oscar, and I put aside whatever the expectations or pressures would have been placed on me, and really wanted to do whatever it took to keep myself interested. And when I heard about this project, \u201cRental Family,\u201d it seemed unusual, maybe something that would have been on the blacklist. You know, liked, but not loved. To read it and to see that it was unsentimental, it was not mawkish, it took a very focused look at what it means to have found family and that, yes, it shot in Tokyo \u2014 those ticked the right boxes for me. I absolutely adored my first meeting with Hikari. I think we sat down for lunch that turned into \u2014 no joke \u2014 we went up in the library of this hotel in the city, looking at art books, and I think pretty much we were talking about most anything but the film in an affected way. I know we found a kinship in the things that interested us and in our approach to the work. And above all that, she is her namesake: Hikari means light, fire, energy. She is that.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe film explores loneliness as a central theme. How does Brendan Fraser experience loneliness?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt feels like \u2014 sometimes it feels like solitude, which, as Akira Emoto, the actor in our film, did point out, isn\u2019t necessarily a negative thing. I mean, it allows you to have contemplation and reflection, which can be very helpful. But at the same time, in the absence of connection, it can be damaging. What do I do? Sure, I have activities and things that I do. I can grind my gears along with it. I can distract myself with my Nintendo DS and play as Link, flying around Hyrule.<\/p>\n

\n\tI try to chase it away. I try to keep myself busy. Or sometimes I\u2019ll accept it and sit in it. And it\u2019s possible to feel alone, although you are not. You don\u2019t want to intrude on anyone\u2019s personal life. But I think you can identify with \u2014 even having company doesn\u2019t give you a sense of feeling less lonely. But I don\u2019t know if I would ever go so far as to hire a surrogate, normally, that is. But I do know that secretly, when I do sit down for a cup of coffee with a friend I haven\u2019t seen in a while, I\u2019m doing that. There\u2019s a reason why we call your brother, and it refuels you. It really does. It really does give you something you can\u2019t buy, ingest, wear, or any of that.<\/p>\n

\t\tWith SAG contract negotiations coming up and your \u201cEncino Man\u201d co-star Sean Astin now president of SAG-AFTRA, what are your thoughts on AI and the future of acting?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt strikes me as a form of plagiarism, and that\u2019s not good. I mean, yeah, sure, steal from the best, as the phrase goes, but appropriating it without permission and manipulating one\u2019s image, voice or likeness to behave \u2014 you\u2019re a puppet on a string. In the long term, the objective is to enrich oneself. That\u2019s not fair without asking permission, as it were. Not acknowledging that that is an issue won\u2019t make it go away. I\u2019m not clever enough to understand what guardrails should be put in place, so to speak. But I do believe that the conversation needs to take place and a lot faster than the development of that technology, because that seems to redo itself every time we blink.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was honestly wondering about this: 25, 26 years ago, when I would go into the valley somewhere and put on a leotard and get scanned, as you would for special effects in films or the development of plastic dolls, or whatever. And after asking questions like, \u201cWho owns this data?\u201d I never got answers. And I thought, well, I guess it\u2019s stuck in a silo somewhere. And it made me wonder then, not being able to imagine where we are now: what if Marilyn Monroe had been scanned? Pick any luminary \u2014 movie star, politician, whatever \u2014 would they be all right with this? Would they accept this? Do you really have permission to do this just because you take ownership of someone\u2019s work, because you want to? I don\u2019t know. I really am conflicted about that. I won\u2019t stand in the way of progress, but I have to find out if there\u2019s a happy medium.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat does that happy medium look like?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFor instance, around 2008, that\u2019s pretty much when everything went from analog to digital. That\u2019s the real turn of the tide that I recall. \u201cJourney to the Center of the Earth\u201d was a film I shot in Montreal in 2007. First take, first day, we finished. Some rocks were caving in, and we got the shot, and the first AD said, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s move on.\u201d And the first AC, through muscle memory, I guess, put a flashlight in his teeth and reached over to the camera to check the gate. And he stopped himself and turned and looked at everyone with wide eyes. And we all had this same-time epiphany: there is no gate. There\u2019s no reason to have a gate. There\u2019s no magazine or film on top of it. So it was funny, but also, we\u2019re like, \u201cOh shit, we\u2019ve just gone from horse and cart to internal combustion engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was an indicator of how things were changing. I mean, not only was that film conceived to be shot in 3D with the technology at the time, but it did usher in a period of change, and the ramifications of that affect the very human aspect of what it takes to create a project or film. So what I want to know is: where\u2019s the gate?<\/p>\n

\t\tCan you talk about Sean Astin\u2019s leadership at SAG-AFTRA?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSean Astin is an excellent communicator. I\u2019ve seen him plenty of times over the years at fan conventions around the country. He\u2019s a favorite. There\u2019s always a long line waiting to meet him at his table, and it takes a long time, and he does. He looks everyone in the eye, he gives them their time, and he counsels them. And many people do feel that he is the guy who will drag you up a hill, whether you think it\u2019s good for you or not. He will not let you fail. And that\u2019s just who Sean is.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou have another film coming, \u201cPressure\u201d from Focus Features, about the D-Day invasion. Can you tell us about it?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAnthony Maras directed it. Andrew Scott is in it \u2014 I saw him in \u201cVanya.\u201d Oh my God, over two hours on the stage, he played about 37 characters, and it was incredible. His character is that of a scientist, a meteorologist, and a biologist, a Scotsman named James Stagg, who advised the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the weekend before the invasion of Normandy Beach on Tuesday, June 6, 1944. The whole operation, Operation Overlord, was scheduled for Monday, June 5. It is said to have been delayed by bad weather. Imagine if they had gone on Monday in bad weather. It would have been an absolute disaster, and the face of history would have been changed.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd it all came down to one sort of nerdy man saying, if you go now, these storms will not allow the men to land on the beach. Waves will be 12 feet. There will be cloud cover. The Air Force can\u2019t identify targets. They will die. In those days, predicting the weather was kind of just looking out the window and looking at analog reports from years prior. If it wasn\u2019t raining in 1928, it won\u2019t rain on this very same day. The scientist, the meteorologist, said, \u201cNo, give me the data. That\u2019s what we want to rely on as the answer.\u201d So Eisenhower had to decide whom to listen to. And years later, when Walter Cronkite interviewed him returning to the beach of Normandy and asked about that, he said, \u201cWell, they just happen to have better weathermen than the Germans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor whatever I just told you about my thoughts on AI, there is a practical application that is incredibly useful. The archival footage that was upscaled from what was in the Library of Congress \u2014 you may be really familiar with those types of images, but you can actually see the breath come from their mouths with the sound mixing. You can see the scatter of sand. This was footage that was taken in 1944, and it looks like it was shot the day before yesterday.<\/p>\n

\t\tThere\u2019s been news about you potentially returning to \u201cThe Mummy\u201d franchise. What can you share?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI am very hopeful that this comes to fruition. It\u2019s what they want. It\u2019s what they\u2019ve been begging for, from me. And I\u2019ve been peppered with the question, will there be another? Hey, look, if the stars align, I hope I have happy news for you. What was news to me \u2014 I was eating a bowl of noodles there, and the trades got itchy trigger fingers to report something. But in fact, what they said was speculation. So it\u2019s in the ether. But official things need to happen, contracts need to be signed, and hopefully, a lot of money gets paid to people who deserve it.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhere do you think Rick O\u2019Connell and his family would be now?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, hopefully alive and well. I don\u2019t know. They seem pretty devoted to their son and their lifestyle. I\u2019d like to see Evelyn stand up to the Benbridge Scholars, to stand up to the boys club, as it were, which is nice. I don\u2019t know. <\/p>\n

\t\tWhat would you tell people who are struggling right now, especially during the holidays?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRental Family\u201d is about overcoming apathy, and that\u2019s important because the real struggle is from within. Are you going to do something about this, or are you not? The only way to overcome that obstacle is to do it together. Ask for help. I didn\u2019t know you could ask for help until that was pointed out to me, and I did, and, surprise, I got it from the most remarkable places \u2014 people you love, people who are closest to you, professionals with the credentials to take care of your needs. Ask for help. If for reasons of mental health, holidays are a tricky time, and I don\u2019t say this lightly \u2014 if your family is driving you up the wall, and I\u2019m not trying to be funny: rent one.<\/p>\n

\n\tCome and see \u201cRental Family.\u201d It will take you \u2014 you\u2019ll feel like you were in Japan for a couple of hours. You\u2019re gonna see a kid who is amazing in this. She\u2019s really terrific. Something special. You can\u2019t not fall for this kid. And filmmaker Hikari cares deeply about these issues, and she\u2019s a positive influence because she acknowledges that, yes, there are prickly, sharp edges to these world issues. But in a world so divided, this is what\u2019s needed now more than ever.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso on this episode, Oscar nominee Kate Hudson discusses her role in \u201cSong Sung Blue.\u201d Additionally, the Awards Circuit Roundtable takes you inside the Governors Awards, how big \u201cWicked: For Good\u201d will be, and what\u2019s expected with Thanksgiving around the corner.<\/p>\n

\n\tVariety\u2019s \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three years after his triumphant Oscar win for \u201cThe Whale,\u201d Brendan Fraser has found his next deeply personal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,289,290,107752,35968,18,19,17,35970,82,106931],"class_list":{"0":"post-193783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-awards-circuit-podcast","12":"tag-brendan-fraser","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-rental-family","17":"tag-technology","18":"tag-the-mummy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115591482359920226","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}