Line #7 Trivia/HowlsMovingCastle


1	!![[Anime/HowlsMovingCastle The anime]]
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3	* ApprovalOfGod: Creator/DianaWynneJones was a fan of the film. Although she said that she originally envisioned Howl's castle as ''floating'' around, she liked Miyazaki's "legged" interpretation, and [[CoversAlwaysLie reprintings of the book made after the movie feature a legged version of the castle.]] It also seems to have inspired Mrs. Jones to write additional stories of Howl and Sophie, and while a third was published, she [[DiedDuringProduction passed away while writing the fourth.]]
4	* AwesomeDearBoy: Christian Bale said he'd play any role in the English dub after he saw ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' and loved it. He didn't expect to land the title role.
5	** Crispin Freeman lobbied hard to get a role (any role) in the movie. He was originally up for the very small role of the soldier who hits on Sophie. He was eventually cast in the small but much more significant role of Mr. Turniphead [[spoiler: aka the Prince]].
6	* CelebrityVoiceActor:
7	** The Japanese version features singer/actress Chieko Baisho as Sophie and SMAP singer Takuya Kimura as Howl.
8	** The English version is no slouch either; featuring Creator/ChristianBale, Creator/EmilyMortimer, Creator/BillyCrystal, and Creator/JoshHutcherson - as well as Golden Age of Hollywood veterans Creator/JeanSimmons and Creator/LaurenBacall.
9	* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: This is Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's favorite of his movies.
10	* CrossdressingVoices: The Witch of the Waste, but only in the Japanese version, where she was voiced by Akihiro Miwa, a Japanese actor and drag queen.
11	* FakeAmerican: Creator/ChristianBale uses an American accent in the dub of the film. Ironically, Howl's eventually revealed backstory in the book reveals him to be a Welshman like Bale himself. Thus, he could've used his natural accent to play him and it would've fit.
12	* FakeBrit: Creator/JenaMalone uses an English accent in the dub to play Lettie - to better match with Emily Mortimer and Jean Simmons voicing her sister. Funnily enough, she'd do the same in ''Film/PrideAndPrejudice2005'' around the same time.
13	* PopCultureUrbanLegends: A fan rumor is that Hayao Miyazaki was inspired to make the film after visiting the Strasbourg Christmas Market.
14	* ReferencedBy:
15	** In ''Film/Hellboy2019'', Baba Yaga's walking home resembles the titular castle, in contrast to the simple cabin she has in the ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' comics and the folklore.
16	** Anna from ''Literature/TheStateOfGrace'' has a huge crush on Howl. When she describes a boy as "cuter than Howl," Grace knows she's serious about him.
17	* ShoutOut: A really subtle one was added by the Swedish translator. When Howl shows Sophie his secret garden and talks about his wizard uncle, the dub has him refer to him as "my uncle, the wizard". That is a nod to ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'' which is called "my uncle, the wizard" in Swedish[[note]]Swedish differentiates maternal and paternal uncles. Howl specifically uses the paternal word as opposed to the maternal used for The Magicians Nephew which does make the nod a bit subtler[[/note]].
18	* StuntCasting: Lauren Bacall was cast as the Witch of the Waste in the English dub partly because she was one of Hayao Miyazaki's favorite actresses.
19	* ThrowItIn: The distinctive growl that Christian Bale uses as Batman can be heard in the English version. This is because he was preparing for ''Film/BatmanBegins'' at the time.
20	* TwoVoicesOneCharacter: For the English release, Creator/EmilyMortimer played Sophie's younger self and the late Creator/JeanSimmons played her older self.
21	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Director Creator/MamoruHosoda was originally brought on to helm the project when the film was announced, but he would quit the project and Creator/StudioGhibli in 2002 due to being dissatisfied with Ghibli's strict ExecutiveMeddling and working conditions, as well as incompatible CreativeDifferences over the style and tone of the film, with Ghibli wanting Hosoda to replicate Hayao Miyazaki's work[[note]]Miyazaki was "[[TenMinuteRetirement retired]]" at the time[[/note]], while Hosoda wanted to make the film in his own style.

Context Trivia / HowlsMovingCastle