Though previously he’s been world-renowned for his motion capture work from which some now-iconic CGI characters have been built on, Andy Serkis’ first stint in the director’s chair is now starting to take shape.
Serkis’ is sitting at the helm of Warner Bros new live-action adaptation of the classic Rudyard Kipling tale The Jungle Book, to be entitled The Jungle Book: Origins. Owing to the story’s decidedly critter-based cast, the film is going to be a blend of live action (i.e. He’ll be casting actual humans for the human roles) and CGI (i.e. He’s not going to train wild animals to deliver dialogue).
And now we’ve got ourselves a peek at the actual cast of the movie, including a bunch of particularly famous people who have signed on to provide their voice talents.
Everyone’s favourite Most-British-Name-Of-All-Time, Benedict Cumberbatch will be providing the voice of the fearsome tiger Shere Khan. The greatest Bruce Wayne of all time/almost the worst Batman, Christian Bale is stepping into the paws of the panther Bagheera, whilst “our” Cate Blanchett is slithering in as the precocious python Kaa. As for the human element, (roughly) 11 year-old actor Rohan Chand will be playing the iconic Mowgli, whilst Serkis himself is bringing his bear necessities to the project to provide the voice and mo-cap work for Baloo.
The film, of course, is not to be confused with the similar, Jon Favreau-directed Jungle Book adaptation that is also currently in production for Disney, wherein Idris Elba is on board to voice Sheer Khan.
The Warner Bros/Serkis version of the story will be sticking much closer to the tone of Kipling’s original story, which is decidedly darker and more “adult” than what wound up being the original 1967 hit Disney animated film.
Though will all that said, there’s no word yet on if Serkis’ version plans on bringing back the vaguely-racist orang-utan Louie. Which is probably a good thing on the one hand, but on the other “I Want To Be Like You” is a certified banger.
Photo: Frazer Harrison via Getty Images.
