Bale, Pattinson, Pugh roped in for English version of Hayao Miyazaki's 'The Boy and the Heron'

Los Angeles: Christian Bale, Robert Pattinson and Florence Pugh are part of the star-studded voice cast for the English version of Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki's latest film "The Boy and the Heron".

Written and directed by Miyazaki, the semi-autobiographical film is the legendary director's first animated feature in 10 years. It follows the story of a 12-year-old boy named Mahito Maki.

After the death of his mother during a fire-bombing, Mahito is sent by his father, Shoichi to live with his aunt, Natsuko, in a remote country house, as per the official description.

GKIDS, the New York-based distributor of award-winning animated feature films, unveiled the English voice cast of the film in a press release, posted on its official website.

Luca Padovan will voice Mahito, while Bale will play his father Shoichi and Gemma Chan as his aunt Natsuko.

The cast also includes Pattinson as Gray Heron, Pugh as Kiriko, Dave Bautista as The Parakeet King, Willem Dafoe as Noble Pelican, Karen Fukuhara as Lady Himi, Mark Hamill as Granduncle. Dan Stevens, Tony Revolori and Mamoudou Athie are voicing The Parakeets.

According to American news outlet Variety, the English-language dub was made in alignment with the SAG-AFTRA Foreign Dubbing Agreement.

"The Boy and the Heron" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The film will be released in the US in December.