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Chloe Grace Moretz to Lead English Voice Cast for 'Princess Kaguya'

by Alex Billington
July 15, 2014

As much as I love Studio Ghibli, I'm not the biggest fan of these kind of casting updates. I prefer the original Japanese voice cast with subtitles, but as always it's hard to sell the film here in the US without dubbed English voices. GKids has unveiled the cast for the English language version of Ghibli's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, directed by Isao Takahata, his first film in fourteen years. Providing the lead voice will be Chloë Grace Moretz, who is already everywhere and in every movie from Cannes to The Equalizer. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya adapts a classic story about a tiny girl found inside a shining stalk of bamboo.

The remainder of the English voice cast for the film includes James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, Beau Bridges, James Marsden, Oliver Platt and Dean Cain. GKIDS has North American distribution rights for the film, first released in Japan in XX, and has planned a theatrical opening starting October 17th that will expand nationwdie. The film will qualify for the Academy Awards and other awards season contests. The English-language version is being produced by Studio Ghibli and Geoffrey Wexler, with Frank Marshall of Kennedy/Marshall Executive Producing. This is the same team that handled English versions for Ghibli's last two films, The Wind Rises and From Up on Poppy Hill. Sounds good to me.

Here's an early Japanese trailer for the film, Kaguyahime no monogatari or The Tale of Princess Kaguya:

Studio Ghibli's The Tale of Princess Kaguya, or Kaguyahime no monogatari in Japanese, is based on the popular 10th century Japanese folktale Taketori Monogatari (or The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter). The story, "known by virtually every Japanese child," is about around a princess named Kaguya discovered as a baby by an old man who sells bamboo inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. When Kaguya grows up, 5 men from prestigious families propose and Kaguya asks them to find memorable marriage gifts. Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata wrote the script and is directing, his latest since directing My Neighbors the Yamadas in 1999. As seen in the teaser, the film will be in the style of the classical Japanese scroll Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga. Princess Kaguya will be released in the US as an English language version on October 17th.

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