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\"It doesn't pretend that it is anything that it isn't,\" he said. \"It acknowledges that we need to seek connection with one another, even if it means that you're going to be, frankly, well, paying for it as a surrogate to stand up for someone who says, 'I need help, I'm lonesome as a family member.' I think that's noble.\"

He added, \"It touches me in the feels and I'm glad to be a part of it.\" 

\"PHOTO:
James Lisle/Searchlight Pictures
PHOTO: Shannon Gorman and Brendan Fraser in "Rental Family."
>

At the LA premiere, Hikari discussed the concept of rental families as something deeply rooted in Japanese culture and said it was something she'd never heard of until the making of the film. 

While addressing the audience before the film's screening, Hikari said rental families have been around in Japan since the 1980s and added that there are about 300 companies that offer clients with professional actors to portray friends, family members or co-workers at events like weddings.

@gma Director #HIKARI talks #BrendanFraser’s performance in #RentalFamily ♬ original sound - Good Morning America

What Hikari said she learned was that the rental services provided more than a stand-in at events, they provided connection.

\"We found this amazing community of people [who] are there for each other, and I thought I just wanted to make it into a story,\" she told \"GMA.\" 

\"PHOTO:
James Lisle/Searchlight Pictures
PHOTO: Akira Emoto and Brendan Fraser in "Rental Family." RENTAL FAMILY.
>

She added, \"It was such a beautiful and interesting character-driven story. This is nothing more than just people connecting to one another through very random or through very interesting occasions, and I thought there's something beautiful ... that I think we could definitely create from it.\" 

Also starring in the film are \"Shōgun\" actor Takehiro Hira, \"Pachinko\" actress Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Gorman and legendary Japanese actor Akira Emoto. 

At its core, Emoto said the film is about the \"unchanging universal idea about human loneliness.\"

\"I feel that modern society goes quite far in understanding loneliness, however, I think loneliness isn't bad, and that's something people are still learning, but I hope that that's a message that people take away from this,\" he said. 

\"Rental Family\" is in theaters now.

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