History Trivia / HowlsMovingCastle

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Director Creator/MamoruHosoda was originally brought on to helm the project with his involvement announced in 2001, but he would quit the project and Ghibli 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 his own.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Director Creator/MamoruHosoda was originally brought on to helm the project, but was taken off during the early stages of production.

* 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.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS
** Due to phonetic translation from English to Japanese and back, the character known as Michael in the books became "Markl" in the film. To make matters worse, whenever his name is spoken, it sounds more like "Marco" than anything else.
** The Swedish and Norwegian dub doesn't only have the same mistranslation, they also call Howl "Hauru", for the same reasons. Slightly justified in that they were trying to [[LipLock lip sync]] the movie, but it still comes off a bit awkward.
** Howl's called "Hauro" in the German dub and the mistranslation of Markl also took place.
** This is justified, as in Japanese (the original language of the film), Howl is written (and pronounced) "Hauru" (ハウル). Neither "Hauru" nor "Howl" have a meaning of their own in German, anyway, and the original book is all but unknown there. The German title just translates to "The Strolling Castle".
*** The same thing happens with the name of Sophie's (step)mother. In the book her name was "Fanny". While she is never called by name in the movie, her name is written as "Honey" in the art book. The romaji for both words is different (Fanny = ファニー, Honey = ハニー), but the pronunciation is nearly identical ("Fanī" and "Hanī", respectively).

** The English version is no slouch either; featuring Creator/ChristianBale, Creator/BillyCrystal and Creator/JoshHutcherson - as well as Golden Age of Hollywood veterans Creator/JeanSimmons and Creator/LaurenBacall.

** The English version is no slouch either; featuring Creator/ChristianBale, Creator/BillyCrystal and Creator/JoshHutcherson - as well as Golden Age of Hollywood veterans Jean Simmons and Lauren Bacall.

* ReferencedBy: 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.

* CrossdressingVoices: The Witch of the Waste, but only in the Japanese version.

* 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 [[AuthorExistenceFailure passed away while writing the fourth.]]

* 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, i.e. native to Wales, like Bale himself.

** Due to phonetic translation from English to Japanese and back, the character known as Michael in the books became "Markl" in the film. To make matters worse, whenever his name is spoken, it sounds more like "Marco" than anything else...

* CelebrityVoiceActor: The Japanese version features singer/actress Chieko Baisho as Sophie and SMAP singer Takuya Kimura as Howl.

* ReferencedBy: In ''Film/Hellboy2019'', Baba Yaga's walking home resembles the titular castle from, in contrast to the simple cabin she has in the ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' comics and the folklore.

* 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, i.e. native to Wales, like Bale himself! If he wanted, or maybe was allowed, he could've just played him with his natural accent and it would've been more fitting. Then again, Howl's backstory isn't even remotely touched upon in the film, among many other aspects of the book, so it would probably just have been something for the book readers.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: This is Creator/HayoMiyazaki's favorite of his movies.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: This is Miyazaki's favorite of his movies.

* FakeAmerican: Christian Bale 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, i.e. native to Wales, like Bale himself! If he wanted, or maybe was allowed, he could've just played him with his natural accent and it would've been more fitting. Then again, Howl's backstory isn't even remotely touched upon in the film, among many other aspects of the book, so it would probably just have been something for the book readers.