Brendan Fraser Finds His First Major Role After Oscar Win With Searchlight’s ‘Rental Family’

EXCLUSIVE: After taking his time in finding his next big role after winning this year’s Best Actor Oscar, Brendan Fraser looks to have zeroed in on that role as sources tell Deadline he is set to star in Searchlight’s Rental Family. Beef helmer Hikari will direct from a script she co-wrote with Stephen Blahut.

Hikari has been developing the project since 2019 and will produce along with Shin Yamaguchi as well as Eddie Vaisman and Julia Lebedev of Sight Unseen Productions.

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The story follows follows a down-and-out actor living in Tokyo who is hired as a token American guy for a Japanese rental-family company, leading him on an unexpected journey of self-discovery through the roles he plays in other people’s lives.

Production is set to start this spring in Japan. Blahut and Tomo Koizumi will exec produce. SVP Production Taylor Friedman and Manager of Creative Affairs Daniel Yu are overseeing the pic for Searchlight.

Fraser is having himself quite the career renaissance over the last year that began with his work in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. The role won him a number of accolades, culminating with this Best Actor Oscar. While the SAG-AFTRA strike caused a delay in his decision, Fraser still was very patient in making a decision on what his next role even prior to the strike going. When this script finally came his way, it was hard for him to pass, and ultimately he committed to star.

Even by being patient, he finds himself in another award season darling with his most recent film, Killers of the Flower Moon, bowing last month and instantly joining the field as one of this year’s Best Picture contenders.

He is repped by CAA, Linden Entertainment and Felker Toczek Suddleson.

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