The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant is a UK VHS/DVD release by Warner Home Video on 10th April 2000.

Cast

• Eli Marienthal as Hogarth Hughes, an intelligent, curious, energetic, and courageous 9-year-old boy with an active imagination. Marienthal's performances were videotaped and given to animators to work with, which helped develop expressions and acting for the character. He is named after author Ted Hughes, who wrote the book that inspired the film, and artist Burne Hogarth.
• Jennifer Aniston as Annie Hughes, Hogarth's mother, the widow of a military pilot, and a diner waitress. According to Bird, Aniston was the only casting suggestion made by Warner Bros. execs that he personally really liked and approved.
• Harry Connick Jr. as Dean McCoppin, a beatnik artist and junkyard owner. Bird felt it appropriate to make the character a member of the Beat Generation, as they were viewed as mildly threatening to small-town values during that time. An outsider himself, he is among the first to recognize the Giant as no threat.
• Vin Diesel as the Iron Giant, a 50 ft., metal-eating robot. Of unknown origin and created for an unknown purpose, the Giant involuntarily reacts defensively if he recognizes anything as a weapon, immediately attempting to destroy it. The Giant's voice was originally going to be electronically modulated but the filmmakers decided they "needed a deep, resonant and expressive voice to start with", so they hired Diesel.
• James Gammon as Foreman Marv Loach, a power station employee who follows the robot's trail after it destroys the station.
  • Gammon also voices Floyd Turbeaux, a farmer and friend of Earl Stutz.
• Cloris Leachman as Karen Tensedge, Hogarth's fourth grade teacher at Redford Elementary School.
• Christopher McDonald as Kent Mansley, a paranoid federal government agent sent to investigate sightings of the Iron Giant. The logo on his official government car says he is from the "Bureau of Unexplained Phenomena".
• John Mahoney as General Shannon Rogard, an experienced and level-headed military leader in Washington, D.C., Mansley's superior at the Bureau of Unexplained Phenomena who goes from merely being annoyed and exasperated with Mansley to openly despising him.
• M. Emmet Walsh as Earl Stutz, a sailor and the first man to see the Giant.

In addition, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas voice the train's engineers briefly seen near the start of the film. Johnston and Thomas, who were animators and members of Disney's Nine Old Men, were cited by Bird as inspirations for his career, which he honored by incorporating their voices, likenesses, and first names into the film.

Release Dates

• USA: 6th August 1999.

Opening (Original 2000 release)

• Warner Home Video Ident (1997)
• European Captioning Institute Warning Screen (1995-2005)
• Cartoon Network 1999 UK TV Advert
• Shiloh 2 trailer [announced by Jon Stewart]
• Warner Village Cinemas 1996 UK TV Advert
• Pokemon: The First Movie trailer [announced by Alec Baldwin]
• THINK! Hedgehog Road Safety - King of the Road 1997 UK TV Advert
• VSC U Warning (Warner Home Video) [announced by Floella Benjamin]
• Warner Bros. Feature Animation Ident
• Start of The Iron Giant (1999)

Closing (Original 2000 release)

• End of The Iron Giant (1999)
• Closing Credits Film
• Tom and Jerry Cartoon Fraidy Cat Short Film (1942)
• Warner Home Video Warning Scroll (1999-2005)

Video clips

Original VHS Opening & Closing- The Iron Giant (UK-Ireland Retail Tape)

Trailers and info

Opening

1. Cartoon Network 1999 (UK TV Advert)
2. Shiloh 2
3. Warner Village Cinemas 1996 (UK TV Advert)
4. Pokemon: The First Movie (Showing at Cinemas Now)
5. THINK! Hedgehog Road Safety - King of the Road 1997 (UK TV Advert)
6. BBFC U Warning (Warner Home Video) (1995)

Closing

1. Tom and Jerry Cartoon Fraidy Cat (1942)