‘Beef’ director Hikari to helm comedy-drama ‘Rental Family’ – The Hollywood Reporter

In a competitive situation, Searchlight Pictures secured the rights to it Rental familya comedy-drama that has beef Director Hikari attached to the helm.

Hikari also co-wrote the screenplay with Stephen Blahut for the feature film project Sight Unseen, produced by Eddie Vaisman and Julia Lebedevo, the banner that includes films such as Sight Unseen Bad Education to his credits. Hikari, who has been developing the film since 2019, is also producing with Shin Yamaguchi.

Family The story is about a down-and-out actor from Tokyo who is hired as a pseudo-American for a Japanese family business, leading him on an unexpected journey of self-discovery through the roles he plays in other people’s lives.

Casting is currently underway Family Filming is scheduled to begin this spring in Japan. Release plans will be announced at a later date.

Blahut and Tomo Koiziu are executive producers.

Sight Unseen was back One thousand and one, the drama starring Teyona Taylor that won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It was later published by Focus Features. The banner’s credits also include Bad hairthe horror thriller directed by Justin Simien.

Hikari comes from the vivid recognition of beef, the Netflix dramedy starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun. Hikari directed and executive produced the pilot and two additional episodes of the series, which received 13 Emmy nominations earlier this year.

She also directed several episodes Tokyo Vicewith Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe and Rinko Kikuch and made her feature film debut 37 seconds, which she wrote, directed and produced. The drama was a festival favorite, winning the Audience Award and the CICAE Award at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival and was also nominated for Best First Feature.

Hikari is repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.