British illustrator Raymond Briggs now has a critically acclaimed cast to lead the animated adaptation of his 1998 graphic novel Ethel and Ernest.
Oscar-nominee Brenda Blethyn and winner Jim Broadbent will star as the voices of Briggs’ parents, whose unassuming lifespans take center stage in Ethel and Ernest’s biographical tribute. Although both actors have significant stage, television and film experience, they’ve also amassed a nice amount of voiceover work in animation: Blethyn has appeared as Mama Heffalump in Disney’s Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too and Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, as well as The Wild Thornberrys Movie, while Broadbent has appeared in Robots, Arthur Christmas, and Animals United, among others.
Blethyn and Broadbent are joined in the film by Luke Treadaway, Virginia McKenna, June Brown, Pam Ferris, Simon Day, and Roger Allam, as well as Harry Collett, voice of Buzzbee in Disney Junior’s animated series The Hive, who stars as young Raymond.