Trivia / Belle (2021)

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• Celebrity Voice Actor:
  • The Japanese release featured singer-songwriter Kaho Nakamura as Suzu Naito and Takeru Satoh as Kei among others.
  • As with NYAV Post's dub of Mirai of the Future, the English cast is made up of famous actors, voice actors and theater performers from both New York City and Los Angeles. Among the celebrity names are Manny Jacinto (as Shinobu), Chace Crawford (as Justin) and Hunter Schafer (of Euphoria fame, as Ruka).
  • The French dub features actress/singer Louane as Suzu/Belle, among others.
• Creator's Oddball: Ludvig Forssell composed the soundtrack to this Disneyesque musical romantic drama, when his previous works with Hideo Kojima were all darker in tone and score. That said, there are some synthwave-inspired instrumental pieces in the film that sound similar to his previous work in Kojima's games. This is also Forssell's first soundtrack for a film, and for a non-Hideo Kojima project.
• Cross-Regional Voice Acting: Given that the English dub was recorded at NYAV Post, it's no surprise that it includes voice actors from Los Angeles and New York City.
• Darkhorse Casting: The English dub was Kylie McNeill's first anime role. She's primarily a musical theater performer based in New York City.
• Directed by Cast Member: In the English dub, Michael Sinterniklaas was the ADR Director and one of the additional voices.
• Duelling Movies:
  • With Dear Evan Hansen, another teen-oriented musical revolving around heavy subject matter and social media. Both films came out roughly around the same time in some markets. Japanese companies Toho and Dentsu were involved with the production of both films. In terms of box office and critical/audience reception, Belle won by a mile, while being made on a much lower budget.
  • It was also this with Free Guy, another film that came out around the same time revolving around a virtual world with the protagonist choosing to spread kindness even in the Wretched Hive that is the Internet. Free Guy was a bigger financial success due to being a major Hollywood studio release, while Belle was an international film given a limited arthouse release by an indie film distributor. Meanwhile, Belle was more well-received by both critics and audiences.
• Inspiration for the Work: The book The Man Who Leapt Through Film cites two previous adaptations of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast as the inspiration for Belle: The 1946 Jean Cocteau film and the 1991 Disney film, itself inspired by the Cocteau film.
• International Coproduction: While the film was mainly produced in Japan by Studio Chizu, French company Charades helped with financing the film, and Irish studio Cartoon Saloon helped with the production design and background artwork.
• Production Posse: There are several Mamoru Hosoda regulars in the film:
  • Actors Koji Yakusho, Mamoru Miyano and Shōta Sometani appeared in Hosoda's 2015 film, The Boy and the Beast.
  • Hiroyuki Aoyama worked as an animation director on Summer Wars.
• Studio Hop: Whereas the previous Latin American Spanish dubs of Mamoru Hosoda's films were made in Mexico, Belle was dubbed at Film Dub Factory in Chile.
• Written by Cast Member:
  • Kaho Nakamura (Suzu/Belle) wrote the lyrics to "Gales of Song" and co-wrote the lyrics to "Lend Me Your Voice" and "A Million Miles Away".
  • Besides being the scriptwriter for the English dub, Stephanie Sheh was one of the additional voices.

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