Distributor Gkids has announced a staggeringly talented English voice cast for Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s new Ghibli feature (and his first project in ten years!), The Boy and the Heron. The dubbed version of the film (originally in Japanese) will feature the voices of Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Gemma Chan, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, Mark Hamill, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh.
Specifically, Bale will voice the character of Shoichi Maki, while Bautista appears 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. Luca Padovan has also joined as Mahito Maki.
The Boy and the Heron is set in 1943 Japan, during the Pacific War, and follows Mahito, a young 12-year-old boy who struggles to settle in a new town after his mother’s death. However, when a talking heron informs Mahito that his mother is still alive, he enters an abandoned tower in search of her, which takes him to another fantastical world full of wonders and dangers, allies and deadly foes.
The Boy and the Heron releases in cinemas on December 8th. Check out the gorgeous English-language film poster below, as well as the feature’s official trailer.