Robert Pattinson is impressing fans with his recent performance as a voice actor in the latest Studio Ghibli film, The Boy and the Heron.
The English actor is best known for portraying brooding characters like Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga films and Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves' The Batman.
Now, he is earning much praise for spectacularly lending his voice to the titular heron character.
The Boy and the Heron is the highly anticipated film from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio that brought us the fantastical films Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo.
The studio's latest release is from the brilliant imagination of master storyteller Hayao Miyazaki, who announced his retirement from the production of feature films in September 2013.
Written and directed by Miyazaki, The Boy and the Heron is a coming-of-age story taking place during the Pacific War and centered around a 12-year-old boy named Mahito.
After the death of his mother, Mahito moves to a new town and struggles to fit in. There, he meets a talking heron, voiced by Pattinson, who taunts the boy in his grief and then takes him on a journey into an alternate fantasy world where life and death collide.
Here is a clip of the English dubbed version of the film featuring Pattinson, whose voice is unrecognizable.
Many animated films are guilty of relying on stunt casting to voice characters. The decision typically leads to uninspired performances from celebrities whose lack of commitment to transformation leaves much to be desired.
Uproxx used Chris Pratt as an example of this, saying:
"Chris Pratt isn’t doing a Mario voice in The Super Mario Bros. Movie—he’s doing a Chris Pratt voice with a slight Italian inflection."
However, in The Boy and the Heron, Pattinson breathes life into the anthropomorphic titular heron character with conviction and gravitas, and gobsmacked fans are taking notice.
Dave Jesteadt, who is the President of Ghibli's North American distributor GKIDS Studio, told IndieWire that the Japanese studio wanted to go in a different direction after originally considering Danny DeVito to voice the heron.
Jesteadt explained:
“They said, ‘Oh no, in Japan it’s actually going to be played by a young, 30-year-old hot singer-actor guy [Masaki Suda].'"
“I was like, ‘What!?’ They said, ‘Yeah, so for the English dub we want someone who matches that age and would also be unusual in the role.'”
When Pattinson's name came up, voice director Michael Sinterniklaas was not so sure the British actor could tackle the role.
Sinterniklaas recalled:
“There was nothing in his body of work to indicate that he could do this crazy thing."
His perspective changed when Pattinson “came to our studio in L.A., he was like ‘OK, I’ve been thinking about this role and I recorded some stuff. Do you want to hear it?’"
He said Pattinson took out his iPhone and played "some stuff that he’s just been doing in the Memos app and it was already the voice.”
From that moment, no further convincing was necessary.
“I was like, ‘Oh, bingo, you’ve already got the character,'" said Sinterniklaas.
The Boy and the Heron was released on July 14, 2023, in Japan, where it grossed $13.2 million in its opening weekend, despite the notable absence of a traditional marketing campaign, including the intentional lack of promotional trailers, images, synopsis, or casting details, except for a movie poster.
Still, it managed to become the biggest theatrical opening in Studio Ghibli's history.
It also became the first anime and Miyazaki's first film to debut at the top of the box office upon its December 8 release in Canada and the U.S.
Here is a full trailer for the English-dubbed version, where you can hear more of Pattinson's work on the film.
THE BOY AND THE HERON | Official English Traileryoutu.be
The accolades continued.
The Boy and the Heron earned rave reviews, including a Golden Globe nod for Best Animated Feature Film, and has a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The site's critics' consensus describes the film as:
"Soulfully exploring thought-provoking themes through a beautifully animated lens, 'The Boy and the Heron' is another Miyazaki masterpiece."
You can catch The Boy and the Heron currently playing in theaters across the country.
