Is that really you, Robert?
The English-language trailer for legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s likely final movie, “The Boy and the Heron,” dropped Thursday.
And in the preview of the animated flick, actor Robert Pattinson plays the titular bird and proves he has quite a talent for voice work. His brogue is totally unrecognizable.
The British actor’s role in the Studio Ghibli film is the cranky grey heron, who can talk — as is typical of Miyazaki’s movies such as “Spirited Away,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” “Princess Mononoke” and “My Neighbor Totoro” — with a throaty, gravely American accent.
The freaky heron takes a little boy named Mahito into a magical world where his thought-to-be-dead mother could be hiding.
“Your mother, she’s awaiting your rescue. I’ll be your guide,” Pattinson croaks like a chain-smoking frog in his first-ever animated role. “You and I aren’t friends or allies, kid.”
Pattinson, who’s skillfully altered his natural voice before in films such as “Twilight” and “The Batman,” is joined in “Heron” by a cast of heavy hitters including Christian Bale, Florence Pugh, Gemma Chan, Dave Bautista, Mark Hamill, Willem Dafoe, Mamoudou Athie, Dan Stevens, Karen Fukuhara and Tony Revolori.
After the North American premiere of “The Boy and the Heron” at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, where it screened in Japanese, The Post declared in a three-and-a-half-star review, “The Japanese director’s visual majesty and uncontrollable imagination are as fully present as ever. And so is his unparalleled understanding of what makes children tick.”
“The Boy and the Heron” hits US theaters on Dec. 8.
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