{"id":340968,"date":"2025-08-13T11:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340968\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T11:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:02:11","slug":"brendan-frasers-rental-family-sets-bfi-london-film-festival-gala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340968\/","title":{"rendered":"Brendan Fraser’s ‘Rental Family’ Sets BFI London Film Festival Gala"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSearchlight Pictures\u2019 \u201cRental Family<\/a>\u201d will serve as this year\u2019s American Express Gala presentation at the 69th BFI London Film Festival<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tDirected and co-written by Hikari, whose credits include \u201c37 Seconds\u201d and the Emmy-winning series \u201cBeef,\u201d the comedy-drama stars Fraser alongside Emmy nominee Hira Takehiro (\u201cShogun\u201d), Yamamoto Mari (\u201cPachinko\u201d), Shannon Mahina Gorman and Emoto Akira (\u201cMaru\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Tokyo-set film centers on an American performer (Fraser) who takes a job with a Japanese company that provides temporary family members for hire. Through this unconventional work, he discovers unexpected human connections that challenge his understanding of authentic relationships versus professional performance.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, is produced by Eddie Vaisman, Julie Lebedev, Hikari and Yamaguchi Shin.<\/p>\n

\n\tFraser and Hikari are expected to attend the U.K. premiere at the Southbank Centre\u2019s Royal Festival Hall on Oct. 16.<\/p>\n

\n\tBFI London Film Festival Director Kristy Matheson said: \u201cFollowing the acclaimed \u201937 Seconds\u2019 and the subversive, roller coaster ride of \u2018Beef,\u2019 we are excited to bring writer-director Hikari\u2019s latest comedy-drama \u2018Rental Family\u2019 to the BFI London Film Festival as our American Express Gala. Brendan Fraser<\/a> is set to steal movie fans\u2019 hearts once more with his stunning central performance in a film that explores the complexity of human relations with huge generosity and wit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI feel so humbled and honored to return to the 2025 BFI London Film Festival with my second feature, \u2018Rental Family,\u2019 and with a gala presentation,\u201d added Hikari. \u201cWhile it\u2019s inspired by a real, and sometimes unusual, business in Japan, it\u2019s ultimately about people longing for connection, and discovering the meaning of true friendship in modern Tokyo. I hope \u2018Rental Family\u2019 offers a bit of escapism to Japan and a few laughs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 69th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express runs from Oct. 8 through Oct. 19. The festival will utilize venues including BFI Southbank, BFI Imax, and partner cinemas across London\u2019s West End, as well as locations throughout the U.K. including Glasgow Film Theatre, Home in Manchester, and Watershed in Bristol.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe complete festival program will be unveiled on Sept. 3. <\/p>\n

\n\tSearchlight Pictures will release \u201cRental Family\u201d in the U.K. in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Searchlight Pictures\u2019 \u201cRental Family\u201d will serve as this year\u2019s American Express Gala presentation at the 69th BFI London…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[121444,96406,748,393,4884,257,121445,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-340968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-bfi-london-film-festival","9":"tag-brendan-fraser","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-rental-family","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115021123265405516","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}