The Gray Heron (青サギ or サギ男, Aosagi or Sagi-Otoko) is the titular deuteragonist in the film The Boy and the Heron.
Description[]
In his heron form, the Gray Heron resembles a regular heron. He also has a more humanlike form with a bulbous nose.
Trivia[]
- He was depicted in an illustration in 2018.[1]
- Toshio Suzuki believes that he is one of the motifs of the Gray Heron where Hayao Miyazaki is presumed to be the model of Mahito Maki.[2]
- GKIDS president Dave Jesteadt originally planned to approach American character actor Danny DeVito to voice the Gray Heron in the English dub. However, he was surprised when Ghibli suggested he follow their approach of casting Japanese singer Masaki Suda, i.e. cast an actor in their 30s for whom the role would be considered unusual. GKIDS eventually settled on Robert Pattinson, due to his reputation for taking roles that went outside the "teen matinee idol" he was once known to play. Pattinson was excited to play the role, and surprised voice director Michael Sinterniklaas when he showed up to the voiceover studio in Los Angeles with pre-recorded memos on his phone of his attempts at performing the Gray Heron's voice, having independently created a voice that was nearly-identical to Suda's performance. Despite The Boy and the Heron being his first voice role, Pattinson completed his work on the film in only a few days.[3]
- The character is very similar to Hoggle from 'Labyrinth', in that he is cowardly, untrustworthy and cynical but will do the right thing when push comes to shove.