The Wind Rises English Voice Cast Announced

The Wind Rises, reportedly the last movie Hayao Miyazaki will direct, will be in theaters starting February 21. The plot description is as follows:

In The Wind Rises, Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted and unable to be a pilot, he becomes one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers, experiencing key historical events in an epic tale of love, perseverance, and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.

And here’s the English-language voice cast, jam-packed with familiar names:

• JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT (Don Jon) lends his voice to Jiro Horikoshi, who harbors strong ambitions to create his own beautiful airplane. A bubbling mix of wild excitement, extreme focus, individualism, pride, realism, and idealism, Jiro also has a cool and brilliant mind and is recognized for his talent.
• JOHN KRASINSKI (The Office) provides the voice of Honjo, Jiro’s college friend and fellow aviation engineer.
• EMILY BLUNT (The Devil Wears Prada) voices Nahoko Satomi, a beautiful and cheerful girl who is a passenger on the same train as Jiro on the day of a natural disaster. Ten years later, they reunite.
• MARTIN SHORT (Saturday Night Live) was tapped to portray Kurokawa, Jiro’s grumpy boss.

• STANLEY TUCCI (Julie & Julia) provides the voice of Caproni, an airplane creator known worldwide from the dawn of Italian aviation through the 1930s, who appears in Jiro’s dreams to stir up, advis,e and voice Jiro’s thoughts and emotions.
• MANDY PATINKIN (Homeland) lends his voice to Hattori, the senior designer at Mitsubishi.
• WERNER HERZOG (Jack Reacher) voices Castorp, a mysterious visitor to Japan who encounters Jiro at a mountain resort.
• WILLIAM H. MACY (Fargo) steps into the role of Satomi, Nahoko’s father.
• MAE WHITMAN (Parenthood) was called on to voice Kayo Horikoshi, Jiro’s younger sister, who adores him. Whitman also voices Kinu, Nahoko’s caretaker.
• JENNIFER GREY (Dirty Dancing) provides the voice of Mrs. Kurokawa.
• DARREN CRISS (Glee) lends his voice to Katayama, a jovial junior engineering colleague of Jiro.
• ELIJAH WOOD (The Lord of the Rings) voices Sone, a studious engineering colleague of Jiro.

The voice cast will be directed by Gary Rydstrom, who’s won Oscars for sound design and who directed the English-language versions of previous Studio Ghibli films The Secret World of Arrietty and From Up on Poppy Hill.