English-Language Cast Announced for ‘The Wind Rises’

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Don Jon) leads the English-language voice cast for Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises. Disney will release the dubbed version of the Japanese master’s final film in February 21. The Golden Globe-nominated titled had its Oscar-qualifying run in Los Angeles and was voted best Animated Feature of the year by the National Board of Review. The film which charts the life and times of World War II fighter plane designer Jiro Horikoshi, has also sparked some controversy for its treatment of Japan’s role in the atrocities of the the war.

Other key roles will be voiced by Mandy Patinkin, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, John Krasinski, Martin Short, William H. Macy, Werner Herzog, Elijah Wood, Mae Whitman, Jennifer Grey, Darren Criss and Ronan Farrow.

“What I love about acting is becoming somebody else, and when you’re just doing the voice and the animation is providing the visuals, you can really become someone else,” Gordon-Levitt, a fan of Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (1997) and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away (2001) told USA Today. “The Wind Rises is more grounded in human beings and a historical moment in time. Yet there’s still a flavor of magic in it as you go inside the mind of this aeronautics engineer and you see him walking on the wings of airplanes in his dream.”

Producer Frank Marshall added, “We credit the beauty and magic of Mr. Miyazaki’s final film for bringing together this phenomenal group of performers.”

Here’s the role breakdown:

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt — main character Jiro Horikoshi
• Emily Blunt — love interest Nahoko Satomi
• John Krasinski — Honjo, Jiro’s college pal and fellow aviation engineer
• Martin Short — Kurokawa, Jiro’s grumpy boss
• Stanley Tucci — Caproni, Italian airplane creator
• Mandy Patinkin — Hattori, senior designer at Mitsubishi
• William H. Macy — Satomi, Nahoko’s father
• Werner Herzog — the mysterious Castorp
• Mae Whitman — Kayo, Jiro’s younger sister, as well as Kinu, Nahoko’s caretaker
• Jennifer Grey — Mrs. Kurokawa
• Darren Criss — Katayama, one of Jiro’s engineering colleagues
• Elijah Wood — Sone, another of Jiro’s colleagues
• Ronan Farrow — Mitsubishi employee