Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Jungle Fever

Author Rudyard Kipling's classic novel The Jungle Book is being adapted for the big screen again...



Adam Dawtrey of Variety:

40 years after Disney turned the story into an annimated classic, it's being prepped to return as a live-action film.

Pathe Films and the BBC are joining forces to make a $50 million film version of Kipling's tale that will be directed by BBC natural-history filmmaker John Downer.

Preproduction will begin in September with the hope that the movie will be completed within two years.

Downer will reportedly shoot much of the film in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in India and intercut that footage with footage of trained animals shot on jungle sets in the U.K. and against blue screens.

"My ambition is to use pioneering digital and wildlife filming techniques to portray one of the greatest stories of all time just as the author intended -- with real live talking animals inhabiting the jungle world of Kipling's India," Downer said.

The film will mark the sixth live-action flick based on Kipling's book.

Given Downer's experiences in the wild--This version just may put all of those other live action efforts to shame. The animated flick will never be beat--It remains and ever shall be--the definitive telling of the story...

No comments: