50 Fun Facts About Howl's Moving Castle

Who wrote and directed the 2004 film Howl's Moving Castle?

Mamoru Hosoda was originally chosen to direct but quit after Ghibli rejected many of his concepts.

Which British author wrote the 1986 novel the film is based on?

Neil Gaiman called her 'quite simply the best writer for children of her generation'.

What is Sophie's trade at the start of the film?

She is the eldest of three sisters and works in the family hat shop.

What is Sophie unable to do once the Witch transforms her?

In the novel the Witch mistakes Sophie for her sister Lettie.

What kind of being is Calcifer?

He is the source of the castle's magic and movement, and bound to its hearth.

What name does Sophie give the living scarecrow she meets?

He leads her to the moving castle and, at the end, turns out to be the missing prince Justin.

What is the name of Howl's young apprentice in the film?

In the novel he is an adolescent named Michael Fisher who courts Sophie's sister Martha.

What job does Sophie claim Calcifer has hired her for?

She invites herself into the castle and announces the position when Howl appears.

What deal does Calcifer offer Sophie?

Neither Howl nor Calcifer can reveal the main clause of their contract, so Sophie must work it out.

Under what pretense does Howl send Sophie to see the King?

She is meant to tell the King that Howl is too cowardly to fight in the war.

Who is the King's head sorceress in the film?

She merges two characters from the novel: Mrs. Penstemmon and the wizard Suliman.

What is the name of the head sorceress's dog who joins Sophie's household?

Dee Bradley Baker provided his wheezing voice, uncredited, in the English dub.

Jenkins and Pendragon are what, in the film?

Soldiers raid both addresses and find only abandoned buildings in disguise.

What does Howl transform into to interfere with the war?

Each transformation makes it harder for him to return to human form.

What does Sophie see a young Howl catch and give his heart to?

The charmed ring leads her into the scene from Howl's past.

What remains changed about Sophie after her curse is broken?

Miyazaki said he liked how positively the story treated growing old.

What breaks the scarecrow's curse?

Sophie's kiss on the cheek reveals him as Prince Justin, who then heads home to end the war.

Which real-world conflict fueled the film's anti-war themes?

Miyazaki said he had 'a great deal of rage' about it and expected the film to be poorly received in the US.

At which festival did the film premiere in September 2004?

It opened in Japan on 20 November 2004.

Which film beat Howl's Moving Castle to the Best Animated Feature Oscar?

It was Ghibli's second nomination in the category after Spirited Away won in 2003.

Which science-fiction writing award did the film win for its script?

It also collected four Tokyo Anime Awards.

Roughly how much did the film gross in Japan?

Another $46 million came from outside Japan, for a $236 million total.

Which two films out-grossed it in Japan at the time of release?

It grossed $14.5 million in its first week in Japan.

Which Pixar director supervised the English dub?

Disney released the dub in the United States on 10 June 2005.

Who voices Howl in the English dub?

Takuya Kimura voices him in Japanese.

Who voices Calcifer in the English dub?

Tatsuya Gashūin voices the fire demon in Japanese.

Which Hollywood legend voices the Witch of the Waste in English?

Akihiro Miwa, a singer and drag performer, voices her in Japanese.

Who voices the older Sophie in the English version?

Emily Mortimer voices young Sophie; Chieko Baisho voices both ages in Japanese.

Which future Hunger Games star voices Markl in English?

Ryūnosuke Kamiki voices Markl in Japanese.

Who composed the film's score?

The New Japan Philharmonic performed it; the main theme is 'The Merry-Go-Round of Life'.

What is the title of the film's main theme?

Chieko Baisho, the Japanese voice of Sophie, sang the film's theme song.

Which region of France did Miyazaki visit to study architecture for the film?

He went to Colmar and Riquewihr; Albert Robida's futuristic drawings were another inspiration.

Which director was originally chosen to helm the film before Miyazaki took over?

Hosoda, then at Toei Animation, left after Ghibli executives rejected many of his concepts.

Which other Ghibli film was announced alongside Howl's Moving Castle in September 2001?

Production on Howl resumed in February 2003 after the Hosoda version was shelved.

How many storyboard cuts were completed for the film by January 2004?

Backgrounds and characters were drawn by hand, then digitized.

The film's castle on bird legs has been compared to whose hut from folklore?

Miyazaki got the idea of chicken legs while wondering how the novel's castle actually moved.

Which real-world country does Howl come from in the novel?

His birth name is Howell Jenkins; the film drops the real-world scenes entirely.

What is the name of the kingdom where the novel is set?

Its capital is Kingsbury; Sophie's town is Market Chipping.

In the novel, what magical ability does Sophie unknowingly possess?

She uses it to free Calcifer and break his contract with Howl.

How many sisters does Sophie have in the novel?

Lettie and Martha; the film cuts Martha and her romance with Howl's apprentice.

How old is Howl in the novel?

He remarks that he will soon be 10,000 days old — part of the Witch's curse.

How does Howl convince Michael he is truly in love, according to the novel?

He arrives to rescue Sophie unshaven and a mess.

Who is Miss Angorian really, in the novel?

The demon was trying to build a 'perfect human' from Suliman, Justin and Howl's head.

What was the title of the novel's 1990 sequel?

House of Many Ways followed in 2008, completing the Howl series.

Which prize did the novel win twenty years after publication?

It had been a runner-up for the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award in 1986.

Who gave Jones the idea for the book, according to the author?

He asked her to write a book titled The Moving Castle; she lost the note with his name.

Jones attended lectures by which two famous authors at Oxford?

She studied English at St Anne's College, graduating in 1956.

How much input did Jones have on the film's production?

Miyazaki flew to England in 2004 to give her a private screening; she called it fantastic.

Which fashion house released a Howl's Moving Castle merchandise line in 2023?

Two tapestries of the film were also woven in Aubusson, France, in a Ghibli collaboration.

Which critic called the film a 'disappointment' and gave it two and a half stars?

Most reviews were raves; it holds 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.