10 years have passed since Miyazaki’s last featured film, The Wind Rises, so it came as exciting news to fans to find out he came out of retirement for one last film. The Boy and the Heron English voice cast was officially announced, and the lineup is jam-packed with amazing talent.
The Boy and the Heron English Cast
GKIDS, who is the acting animation group for Studio Ghibli’s North American distributor announced the full English voice cast which is as follows:
- 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 The Gray Heron
- Florence Pugh as Kiriko
- Luca Padovana as Mahito Maki
- Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolri and Dan Stevens as the Parakeets
As you can see from this line up, there are big names who hail from movies like Howl’s Moving Castle, Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Twilight, and other fan favorites.
About the Film
The Boy and the Heron is set in 1943 during World War II and follows a 12-year-old boy named Mahito Maki who struggles with the passing of his mother during a fire storm. Mahito’s father, Shoichi evacuates the family to his aunt’s estate in the countryside reminiscent of that in My Neighbor Totoro. There, Mahito encounters a mysterious gray heron on the grounds that can speak and informs him his mother is still alive and where he can find her. With this news, he embarks on an adventure with the heron through a tower built by Mahito’s granduncle that leads them into a world shared by the living and the dead.
The film also features a musical score from Joe Hisaishi who has been a long time Studio Ghibli composer, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 7.
After a special advance preview, which will be held on Nov. 22, both Japanese and English versions of The Boy and the Heron are slated to be theatrically released on Dec. 8.
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