Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron Film Reveals English Dub Cast

GKIDS unveiled on Tuesday the English dub cast for Hayao Miyazaki's latest feature film The Boy and the Heron (Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka, or literally How Do You Live?).

Image courtesy of GKIDS

© 2023 Studio Ghibli

The English cast includes:

• 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
• Florence Pugh as Kiriko
• Luca Padovan as Mahito Maki
• Mamoudou Athie as Parakeet
• Tony Revolori as Parakeet
• Dan Stevens as Parakeet

GKIDS handled casting and produced the English version in close consultation with Studio Ghibli. The company produced the dub in accordance with the SAG-AFTRA Foreign Dubbing Agreement. Michael Sinterniklaas is the dub's director at NYAV Post, and Stephanie Sheh is the English script writer.

© 2023 Studio Ghibli

GKIDS licensed the film, and will release it in North American theaters on December 8, with preview engagements on November 22.

The Boy and the Heron has earned a cumulative total of 8,333,397,800 yen (about US$55.60 million). It is the #75 highest-grossing film in Japan.

The film sold 1.003 million tickets and earned about US$13.2 million in its first three days in Japan. The film sold 1.353 million tickets and earned 2.149 billion yen (about US$15.53 million) in its Friday-Monday long weekend (July 17 was the Marine Day holiday in Japan).

The film is the first Studio Ghibli film to get a simultaneous IMAX release. The film is also screening in Dolby Atmos, Dolby Cinema, and DTS:X.

The film had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), as the event's opening film on Thursday at Roy Thomson Hall. This marked the first time the festival opened with an animated film as well as the first time for a Japanese film. The San Sebastian Film Festival (SSIFF) screened the European premiere in Donostia-San Sebastián's Kursaal Auditorium in Spain on September 22 after the event's opening gala. This marked Miyazaki's fourth film to screen at SSIFF, and the first time his film participated at the event's Official Selection. The festival honored Miyazaki with the Donostia Award for career achievement. The film is scheduled to open the 2023 Animation Is Film Festival, which will run at Hollywood's TCL Chinese 6 Theatres from October 18 to October 22. The Miami Film Festival's Gems 2023 event will screen the film will on November 4 at 4:30 p.m. EDT at Silverspot Cinema 12.

Miyazaki is credited with the original work, in addition to directing the film and writing the script. Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro) composed the music. Kenshi Yonezu (Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, March comes in like a lion) performs the theme song "Chikyūgi" (Globe).

Source: Press release