Robert Pattinson, Christian Bale, Florence Pugh lead ‘The Boy and the Heron’ English voice cast

MANILA, Philippines – Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron film has announced its star-studded English-language voice cast, which includes A-list Hollywood celebrities like Christian Bale, Robert Pattinson, Florence Pugh, Willem Dafoe, and more.

The hand-drawn animated film’s distributor GKIDS confirmed all the English cast members and the characters they will be voicing. Christian Bale will be voicing Shoichi Maki; Dave Bautista will play the Parakeet King; Florence Pugh will voice Kiriko; Robert Pattinson will voice The Grey Heron; Willem Dafoe the Noble Pelican; Gemma Chan is Natsuko; Mark Hamill is Grand Uncle; and Karen Fukuhara will be Lady Himi. GKIDS cast and produced the English-language version. The dub was made under the SAG-AFTRA Foreign Dubbing Agreement.

The Boy and the Heron is the latest critically-acclaimed film of Studio Ghibli founder Miyazaki, and also his alleged last before retiring. However, the studio’s vice president said that Miyazai still “shows the willingness to create something new.” His last film was The Wind Rises in 2013.

The semi-autobiogrophical film, adapted from a 1937 novel by Genzaburo Yoshino entitled How Do You Live, which Miyazaki read as a child, chronicles the journey of 11-year old Mahito Maki, who loses his mother during World War II and embarks on a trip to a magical world. The movie is also inspired by how Miyazaki himself felt after the war and coped with the loss of his mother.

The Boy and the Heron premiered in July in Japan, and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It is set for a North American release on December 8 in both Japanese and English language versions. – Rappler.com