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Mamoru Hosoda's Belle Film Casts Takeru Satoh as the Dragon
posted on by Egan Loo
The staff for Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu's new BELLE (Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, literally "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess") anime film announced on Tuesday that actor Takeru Satoh (live-action Rurouni Kenshin, Bakuman., Ajin) plays the mysterious entity that is the dragon in the film. The news came at the press conference to announce the completion of the film at Grand Hyatt Tokyo hotel.
The film will open in Japan on July 16. France's Cannes Film Festival will first screen the film in the festival's Cannes Premiere section on July 15. This marks the first Official Selection at the festival for Hosoda. (The director's previous Mirai film screened at the Directors' Fortnight, an independent section held in parallel to the festival, in 2018.)
GKIDS licensed the film for North America, and will release the film in English and in Japanese with English subtitles this winter. The film will have IMAX screenings in 38 theaters throughout Japan. This makes BELLE the first of Hosoda's films to have IMAX screenings.
Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars,The Boy and The Beast, Mirai) is directing and scripting the film, and is also credited for the original work. The film marks Studio Chizu's 10th anniversary. Taisei Iwasaki (Blood Blockade Battlefront, Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan, The Naked Director) is the film's music director and composer.
Eric Wong, a London-based architect and designer, created the concept artwork for the film's online world of U. Jin Kim (Frozen, Tangled, Big Hero 6, Moana) designed the titular protagonist Belle. Singer-songwriter Kaho Nakamura will play the protagonist Suzu/Belle.
Sources: Comic Natalie
