Among the many other talented actors, Christian Bale has also ventured into the world of anime adaptations. The Dark Knight actor most recently did the voice-over for Shoichi Maki in The Boy and The Heron. Notably, he resumed his partnership with Studio Ghibli almost two decades after he starred in the voice cast of Howl’s Moving Castle.
Bale is a staunch supporter of Hayao Miyazaki’s works. This is evident by the fact that he has only worked in animations that have been directed by Studio Ghibli’s co-founder. That being said, his love for Miyazaki’s work doesn’t stem from Howl’s Moving Castle but rather from the award-winning 2001 film Spirited Away.
Christian Bale Wanted To Get Cast in Howl’s Moving Castle After Watching Spirited Away
Before Demon Slayer: Mugen Train dethroned it, Spirited Away was the highest-grossing Japanese animation film since its release in July 2001. It grossed a record ¥1.6 billion ($13.1 million) in just three days, beating the previous record set by Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke.
Grossing over ¥31 billion at the moment, Spirited Away captured the impact of Western consumerism on traditional Japan. Fear and anxieties of the main character Chihiro are depicted in the story as she is taken by Gods and made to work in a bathhouse. The animation film is based on a coming-of-age theme after the girl is separated from her parents.
According to IMDB Trivia, Christian Bale was enraptured after seeing Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. He agreed to play any role in the Howl’s Moving Castle animation film to be a part of Studio Ghibli. Not only did Bale get cast in the English voiceover but also got the lead role of Howl, something that IMDB states that “he did not expect” to happen.
Bale became the second Batman movie star after Michael Keaton in Porto Rosso to star in a Ghibli film. Moreover, he experimented with the unmistakably raspy voice that became iconic in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy during his time as Howl.
More About Howl’s Moving Castle
Originally released in Japan in 2004, Howl’s Moving Castle contained strong anti-war themes characteristic of Miyazaki’s works. It immediately struck a chord with the American audience the following year when it was released by Walt Disney Pictures. Miyazaki, a pacifist, was influenced by the 2003 Iraq War and felt that the English viewers would be uneased by the animated film but instead, it got good critical responses.
Howl’s Moving Castle was adapted from the namesake novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones that was published in 1986. Although a loose adaptation, it obtained an 87% approval rating with an average rating of 7.5/10 by Rotten Tomatoes. The film grossed $190 million in Japan in box office sales, making it the third most successful film at that time after Spirited Away and Titanic.
Based on a fantasy universe, Ghibli’s animation differed from the original source in its depiction of the castle, omittance of certain characters, and major switches in the roles compared to the novel. The character of Sophie has no magical powers while in the novel, it is she who defeats The Witch of the Waste and the Fire Demon with her magical prowess.
While Christian Bale voiced Howl in the dub, the original Japanese voice was done by Takuya Kimura. Cheikho Biasho and Akihiro Miwa are also noteworthy voice casts for Howl’s Moving Castle.
