The Oscar-nominated animation feature film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is based on the Japanese folktale, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. It’s about a bamboo cutter who discovers a nymph inside a bamboo shoot. He takes her home and with his wife they raise her as their own. They call her “Princess.” She is believed by many in the village to be a divine presence, which can be seen as a gift and a curse.
A stellar list of American actors provided the characters’ voices for the English language version of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya including Chloë Grace Moretz (Princess), James Caan (the Bamboo Cutter), Mary Steenburgen (the Bamboo Cutter’s wife), and Lucy Liu, James Marsden, Beau Bridges, Dean Cain, Oliver Platt, George Segal, among others. While well known in Japan, it’s the first time 79-year-old director/writer Isao Takahata has been nominated for an Academy Award. It cost ¥ 5 billion (US$49.3 million) to produce. So far The Tale has grossed ¥ 2.5 billion ($24.5 million).
