The Wind Rises signs voice talent to English-language wide release
Hayao Miyazaki is, simply put, one of the greatest creative visionaries in the realm of film and animation. Unfortunately, Miyazaki has voiced his intentions to retire, and he torch he and Studio Ghibli built and lit brightly will have to be taken up by others. His latest and last feature-length film, The Wind Rises, was released in Japan earlier this year, but the movie just got an impressive English-language cast to jump on board to make the director’s last big screen adventure a little more accessible to a wider audience.
See which of your favorite actors and actresses signed on, and watch the US release trailer, for The Wind Rises after the jump.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be voicing the movie’s main character, and he’ll be joined by the exceptional talent of Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, John Krasinski, Martin Short, Elijah Wood, and Mae Whitman. Miyazaki’s films, when dubbed for English-speaking audiences, have always managed to attract an impressive array of big name stars, and The Wind Rises now joins the very best of them. If you’re familiar with the film, head on over to USA Today to see which actor/actress is playing which character.
If you’re not familiar with the film and would like to get acquainted here’s the trailer for US release:
And here’s an in-depth synopsis to make you and the movie best friends:
In “The Wind Rises,” Jiro—inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni—dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes. Nearsighted from a young age and thus unable to become a pilot, Jiro joins the aircraft division of a major Japanese engineering company in 1927. His genius is soon recognized, and he grows to become one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers. The film chronicles much of his life, and depicts key historical events that deeply affected the course of Jiro’s life, including the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan’s plunge into war. He meets and falls in love with Nahoko, and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo. A tremendous innovator, Jiro leads the aviation world into the future. Miyazaki pays tribute to engineer Jiro Horikoshi and author Tatsuo Hori in his creation of the fictional character Jiro—the center of the epic tale of love, perseverance, and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.
The Wind Rises, with its new English-language cast, is scheduled to be re-released on February 21, 2014.