Pages

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Disney's "Jungle Book" Finds Its Mogwli

It has been announced that newcomer Neel Sethi has joined Disney's new live-action film
adaptation of author Rudyard Kipling's classic India-set 1894 short story collection called The Jungle Book.

The 10-year-old Sethi, from New York, was chosen to play Mogwli from among thousands of kids who auditioned for the role in the U.S., the U.K., New Zealand and Canada.


The majority of the tales focus on Mowgli, a young boy raised by wolves whose friends include a bear named Baloo and a panther by the name of Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). They also encounter a tiger adversary named Shere Khan (Idris Elba will both mo-cap perform and provide the voice).

.Lupita Nyong'o is playing Rakcha, the wolf who takes in the orphan Mogwli. Scarlett Johansson will portray the sling python Kaa.

The role of bear Baloo has yet to be cast.

Justin Marks will write the script for "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau.

Robert Legato ("Avatar") will oversee the motion capture elements in the film

The film is scheduled for release on October 9th 2015.

Casting is the most important element of any film and finding the right kid to play Mowgli was imperative,” Favreau said in a statement. “Neel has tremendous talent and charisma. There is a lot riding on his little shoulders and I’m confident he can handle it.”

Since the property is in the public domain, Warner Bros is developing its own version with Harry Potter film series writer Steve Kloves working on the script. Filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu had been attached to direct, but he left over scheduling conflicts. Now motion capture actor Andy Serkis is set to direct that version.

No comments:

Post a Comment