Christian Bale, Florence Pugh, Mark Hamill + Willem Dafoe lead English voice cast for 'The Boy and the Heron'

Animation legend Hayao Miyazaki's acclaimed, upcoming film "The Boy and the Heron" has attracted an equally acclaimed cast for its English language dubbed version.

The movie centers on a 12-year-old boy Mahito Maki (Luca Padovan) who is sent by his father (Christian Bale) to live in the country with his aunt after his mother dies. There, he follows a heron into a tunnel and emerges in a world shared by both the dead and the living.

The cast will include Bale's fellow Oscar nominees Willem Dafoe and Florence Pugh as well as Mark Hamill, "The Boys" actress Karen Fukuhara, Robert Pattinson, "Guardians of the Galaxy" star Dave Bautista and "Eternals" lead Gemma Chan.

The cast also includes Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori and Dan Stevens as the Parakeets.

Bautista plays The Parakeet King, Chan voices the boy's aunt Natsuko, and Dafoe will portray Noble Pelican.

Fukuhara plays Lady Himi, Pattinson plays The Grey Heron, Pugh plays Kiriko, and Hamill will play Granduncle.

The movie will open in U.S. theaters Dec. 8.