GKIDS and Studio Ghibli have revealed the English voice cast of The Boy and the Heron, which hits US cinemas on December 8.
The stacked cast list for the Hayao Miyazaki film includes names like:
• Christian Bale as Shoichi Maki
• Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King
• Gemma Chan as Natsuko
• Willem Dafoe as Noble Pelican
• Karen Fukuhara as Lady Himi
• Mark Hamill as Granduncle
• Robert Pattinson as Gray Heron
• Florence Pugh as Kiriko
Luca Padovan voices protagonist Mahito Maki, while Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, and Dan Stevens voice the Parakeets.
A new poster visual was also revealed along with the cast announcement.
The Boy and the Heron, which premiered in Japan on July 14 and is currently the country’s 74th highest-grossing movie, is Miyazaki’s first film since 2013’s The Wind Rises, and supposedly his last. The Japanese title, How Do You Live?/Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka, shares its name with the 1937 novel by Genzaburou Yoshino, which is a favorite of the director.
GKIDS describes the film as:
A young boy named Mahito
yearning for his mother
ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.
There, death comes to an end,
and life finds a new beginning.
A semi-autobiographical fantasy
about life, death, and creation,
in tribute to friendship,
from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
The Japanese cast for the movie includes Souma Santoki as Mahito, Yoshino Kimura as Natsuko, Jun Kunimura as The Parakeet King, and Kaoru Kobayashi as the Noble Pelican.
Source: @GKIDSfilms
Staff
• Scriptwriter: Hayao Miyazaki
• Animation director: Takeshi Honda (Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy)
• Music composer: Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro)
