The world premiere of “The Boy And The Heron” at TIFF last month marked the first film from Hayao Miyazaki in a decade. And as it’s made its tour on the Fall festival circuit, it’s clear Miyazaki has another winner on his hands. Now Deadline reports that Gkids, the distributor for the film, will release Japanese and English-language editions of Miyazaki’s latest in US theaters this December; and the English voice cast is quite the ensemble.
The English dub of “The Boy And The Heron” will include the voice of Christian Bale, Robert Pattinson, Florence Pugh, Gemma Chan, Dave Bautista, Willem Dafoe, Karen Fukuhara, and Mark Hamill. Luca Padovan will lead the cast as Soma Santoki, with Pattinson as the Grey Heron, Fukuhara as Lady Himi, Chan as Natsuko, and Bale as Shiochi Maki. Pugh, Bautista, and Dafoe round out the main voice roles as Kiriko, The Parakett King, and Noble Pelican. Other cast includes Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, and Dan Stevens as the Parakeets.
After it opened TIFF in September, “The Boy And The Heron” has made the festival rounds, with its US premiere at NYFF and its European one at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film also had its UK premiere at BFI London Film Festival. Next up? AN IMAX presentation of the film at the Chinese Theater tomorrow for the opening night of the Animation Is Film Festival.
“The Boy And The Heron” then lads in US and Canadian theaters on December 8, in its original Japanese version and the English-language dub. There will also be special preview engagements for the film on November 22 in the lead-up to its wide release.
Miyazaki’s latest is an original story from the Studio Ghibli co-founder, although its title references Genzaburō Yoshino‘s 1937 novel of the same name. “The Boy And The Heron” follows a young man who escapes the Pacific War in 1943 for a fantastical realm populated by the living, the dead, and a talking grey heron. Here’s a synopsis for the film in poem form, courtesy of GKids Films:
A young boy named Mahito
yearning for his mother
ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead.
There, death comes to an end,
and life finds a new beginning.
A semi-autobiographical fantasy
about life, death, and creation,
in tribute to friendship,
from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
As noted earlier, “The Boy And His Heron” hits US theaters on December 8. Watch a trailer for the film below.
