‘The Boy and the Heron’: Christian Bale, Robert Pattinson and More Join English Dub Cast!!

Hayao Miyazaki is back later this year with a new animated feature, The Boy and the Heron, set to begin hitting select theaters this November, with a wider release set for December. The film has already made the rounds at several film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival back in September. As audiences eagerly await the film’s release, GKIDS, Studio Ghibli‘s North American distributor, has announced the English voice cast.

The Boy and the Heron‘s English version comes out swinging with an all-star cast, including Christian Bale (Howl’s Moving Castle) as Shoichi Maki, Robert Pattinson as The Gray Heron, Florence Pugh as Kiriko, Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King, Willem Dafoe as Noble Pelican, Karen Fukuhara as Lady Himi, Mark Hamill (Castle in the Sky, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) as Granduncle, and Gemma Chan as Natsuko. Additionally, the English version features the voices of Luca Padovan as Mahito Maki, and Dan Stevens, Tony Revolori, and Mamoudou Athie as the Parakeets.

The Boy and the Heron is a semi-autobiographical film that centers on Mahito, a 12-year-old boy sent to live with his aunt after his mother dies during a firebombing. While staying at the remote country house, Mahito notices a heron around the property, deciding to follow the bird into a tunnel where he happens upon an illusion of his late mother. With the heron by his side, Mahito and the bird traverse a mysterious and fantastical world “shared by the living and the dead.” The Boy and the Heron is set against the Pacific War in 1943.

Who Worked on ‘The Boy and the Heron’?

The Boy and the Heron was written and directed by Miyazaki, who also created hand-drawn animation for the film. Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki serves as producer, with Joe Hisaishi as composer. GKIDS produced and handled casting for the English version in consultation with Studio Ghibli. Stephanie Sheh adapted the script to English. The Boy and the Heron English dub was produced in accordance with the SAG-AFTRA Foreign Dubbing Agreement.