It is no surprise that the English version of a Hayao Miyazaki film will be filled with A-lister talent. The beloved filmmaker’s next film, The Boy and the Heron, has set its cast for the English dub. The massive talents who you will hear in the Studio Ghibli movie include Mark Hamill, Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Robert Pattinson, and Florence Pugh.
The Boy and the Heron Finds A-Lister Talent for English Dub Cast
Distributor Gkids announced the cast this morning, featuring a new poster with their names attached (seen above). It also noted that this version of the film was completed in order to avoid crossing the picket line of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Details on each of the English cast of The Boy and the Heron were also announced. Bale stars as Shoichi Maki, Bautista as The Parakeet King, Chan as Natsuko, Dafoe as Noble Pelican, Fukuhara as Lady Himi, Hamill as Granduncle, Pattinson as The Gray Heron and Pugh as Kiriko. They will also be joined by Luca Padovan (You) as Mahito Maki. The Parakeets will be played by Mamoudou Athie (Elemental), Tony Revolori (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey).
The film will be the first feature-length from the beloved filmmaker in a decade. He wrote and directed the upcoming animated flick. It follows a boy struggling in a new town after the death of his mother. When a talking heron tells him she is still alive, he goes on an otherworldly adventure to find her.
You can hear either the original Japanese cast or the English dub of The Boy and the Heron on December 8. It has had some festival runs and will have special showings on November 22. It will be available in traditional theaters and IMAX.
