Worldwide Casting Call for New Anime Movie BELLE

Have you ever dreamed of being part of an animated movie? Perhaps singing a tune? You may just get that chance with Mamoru Hosoda’s latest movie BELLE: Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, which translates to “The Dragon and the Freckled Princess”. For the first time, Mamoru Hosoda and his studio Studio Chizu announced Friday the film’s staff are holding a worldwide open casting call. They are looking for people from all over the world to play a part of an important scene, in which there are people from all over singing along with the main character Belle. The lyrics are simple. All you would need to sing are “lalala” and to be able to listen to sample low and high-pitch vocal recordings to match their voice to vocalize what they are looking for. If you are interested in participating in this casting call, go to this page: Casting Call Page.

Mamoru Hosoda is credited as the director, screenwriter, and author of the original story. His past works include Digimon: The Movie, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast, and Mirai.

BELLE is about Suzu, a 17-year old high school girl living with her father in a rural town of Kochi. When she was younger, Suzu would always sing with her mother. But since losing her, Suzu lost the ability to sing. One day, Suzu discovers the massive online world, “U,” and dives into this alternate reality as her avatar, Belle. As an avatar, she is able to feel free to sing what it is in her heart. Before long, all of U’s eyes are fixed on Belle (Suzu), when one day the mysterious and infamous Dragon-like figure appears before her.

“BELLE is the movie that I have always wanted to create,” says Director Mamoru Hosoda, “and I am only able to make this film a reality because of the culmination of my past works. I explore romance, action and suspense on the one hand, and deeper themes such as life and death on the other. I expect this to be a big entertainment spectacle.

“I have directed films in the past, exploring the implications of the Internet and how our younger generations will transform the world with their own amusement. At the same time, the Internet has a more negative side to it, where people slander others without a second thought, filling it with misinformation. In spite of this, I believe that it is marvel that will expand the possibilities of humanity. I wanted to depict this massive shift in our relationship with the Internet in a way that would pave a path towards our future.

“The unprecedented events of last year have accelerated the paradigm shift in our online interactions with one another, be it the workplace or our personal lives. As this era continues to change, unbound from the shackles of yesterday’s common sense, capturing this global phenomena felt like an inevitability.

“Yet, the things that we must cherish, largely remain the same. Legacies we have inherited from generations past, will continue to exist and adapt to the new age and new tools that will now shape it. This shift is more apparent than it has ever been because of the era in which we currently live.

“I hope you can enjoy our world that is now evolving at the speed of light while savoring those things that really matter to us, in this film.”

Watch the trailer here:

The song that is featured in the trailer is one of the songs the character Belle sings in the online world of “U”. I think it sounds beautiful and I am really looking forward to seeing this later this year.

It’s not often one gets an open invitation to get to voice in an anime movie! Do you think you will enter in the voice casting call?