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Disney’s English- language release of “The Wind Rises” will be voiced by a host of stars, lead by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt.
Set for US release on February 21, 2014, the anime looks to be the final feature from Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
Other stars include Stanley Tucci (“The Hunger Games”), Elijah Wood (“The Lord of the Rings”), Darren Criss (“Glee”), William H. Macy (“Fargo”), John Krasinski (“The Office”), Mae Whitman (“Avatar: The Last Airbender”) and Mandy Patinkin (“Homeland”).
“The Wind Rises” centres on Jiro Horikoshi (Gordon-Levitt), a young Japanese boy whose dreams of flying aeroplanes are shattered due to his poor vision. Instead, he grows up to become an aeronautical engineer, designing fighter planes that are used by the Japanese in World War II.
While the film grossed $120 million at the Japanese box office and is set to place as this year’s top movie, it was met by controversy, deemed by some to be too anti-war.
“The Wind Rises” has already landed a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film and had an Oscar qualifying run in LA last month. It was also dubbed the 2013 best animated film by the
Miyazaki announced his retirement from filmmaking following the film’s international premiere at the Venice festival in September.
“We credit the beauty and magic of Mr. Miyazaki’s final film for bringing together this phenomenal group of performers,” said Frank Marshall, producer of the English version, in a statement.
