Brendan Fraser on Immersing Himself in Tokyo to Film ‘Rental Family’ (Exclusive)

“Extra” went on location with Brendan Fraser in Tokyo for his new movie “Rental Family,” which he said was a dream to shoot in a country he’s always admired. 

Shooting in Tokyo was high on his bucket list. On previous trips, he was busy doing press, saying, "I didn’t get a chance to really explore.”

When it came to shooting in Japan for “Rental Family," he said, “It’s helpful to immerse yourself, if you can. I brought myself here a little bit early to wander the streets, eat my way from one end of the town to the other, make friends with people, which was never difficult.”

He shared, “This film is a love letter to Tokyo. It's a love letter to loneliness."

Brendan plays an out-of-work actor who is hired by a Japanese company to play a surrogate family member or friend for desperate and lonely strangers. 

Hikari wrote, produced, and directed the comedy-drama after watching isolation take hold in Japan. 

She told us, "I knew this loneliness has been creeping up in our culture for over decades, right? Like, people are not having children, older people are having no people to take care of them... The technology [in Japan] is so advanced you see more isolation than I feel like some other parts of the world.”

Fraser said the story grasps "the essential characteristic of putting another person's interests or needs ahead of your own."