Hayao Miyazaki’s new animated movie, The Boy and the Heron from Studio Ghibli has revealed its official English voice cast.
GKIDS, the North American distributor for Studio Ghibli, shared the cast list, which includes well-known actors 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 The Gray Heron and Florence Pugh as Kiriko.
The story, written and directed by Miyazaki, is somewhat based on his life and follows a 12-year-old boy named Mahito Maki. After losing his mother in a fire-bombing, he goes to live with his aunt in a remote country house. While there, he encounters a heron and embarks on a magical journey that blurs the line between the living and the dead.
The film features a captivating musical score by Joe Hisaishi, a longtime composer for Studio Ghibli, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 7.
In a review for Variety, Peter Debruge called the film an “epic journey into Miyazaki’s eastern spin on the Greek underworld.” “Rather than follow a traditional three-act structure, Miyazaki follows his imagination, such that audiences can’t possibly guess where the narrative will go next,” Debruge wrote.
After special advance previews on Nov. 22, both Japanese and English-language versions of The Boy and the Heron will be theatrically released on December 8.
