I sat down with Eddie Vaisman and Julia Lebedev, the producers of Searchlight’s Rental Family starring Brendan Fraser.
Vaisman and Lebedev made this film from the ground up, working with the director Hikari (dir: Netflix’s Beef) from before there was a script or even an outline.
Over the course of the interview (it’s a bit of a long one), they map out their exact process of actualizing the film from working on the script, to casting, to pitching studios, to financing, to the challenges of filming in Japan, and even getting Brendan Fraser to learn fluent Japanese.
There are some fun insights in here. And Vaisman and Lebedev are some of the most prolific indie producers in the game.
Here’s a “short” list of their producing credits:
The Discovery (2017)
Cast: Robert Redford, Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, Jesse Plemons, Riley Keough
Premiere: Sundance
Distributor: Netflix
The Dinner (2017)*
Dir: Oren Moverman
Cast: Richard Gere, Rebecca Hall, Steve Coogan
Premiere: Berlin
Distributor: The Orchard
*Underseen and underrated
Monsters and Men (2018)
Cast: John David Washington, Anthony Ramos, Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Premiere: Sundance
Distributor: Neon
Bad Education (2019)
Star: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ray Romano
Premiere: TIFF
Distributor: HBO
A Thousand and One (2023)
Cast: Teyana Taylor
Winner: Sundance Grand Jury Prize
Distributor: Focus Features
If you haven’t seen Rental Family, it’s a heartwarming film about an American actor in Tokyo (Fraser) working at a “rental family” agency, where he plays stand-in roles for strangers. In one particularly evocative storyline, he plays the father to a little girl whose dad isn’t in the picture.
The joy of the film is watching the synthetic blend with the real. As Brendan Fraser’s roles cross over into reality, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the beauty of human connection.
Trailer:
The film is in theaters November 21st.
