The Jungle Book — Featurette: 'The Legacy'

source:   youtube.com

added: Thu, Mar 24th '16

In this brand-new "The Jungle Book" featurette, director Jon Favreau and his cast explore the legacy of Rudyard Kipling's classic adventure tale, which was famously turned into a popular animated movie in the late '60s.

"The 1967 animated Disney's version was something I grew up with," Favreau says in the above clip. "When you take on a piece of content and you update it, you have to be sure there's a reason for it."

Favreau's reasoning seems to depend on today's cutting-edge filmmaking techniques that regard "photo-real animal animation." For the movie, Favreau incorporates these computer-generated animals with a live actor. In this case, it's newcomer Neel Sethi who plays Mowgli, a human boy who was raised by a family of four-legged creatures, but now finds himself encountering other wild animals when he's forced out of his jungle home.

For the animal characters, Favreau has set up an exceptional voice cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, and Scarlett Johansson with Bill Murray as Baloo the bear and Christopher Walken as King Louie the orangutan.

"I think for voice performances," Favreau explains. "The trick is to have (the voice cast) really acting like they're in the film. As they start to see the animation and work with each other, it starts to get fun."

You'll see how fun it gets when "The Jungle Book" opens in theaters April 15.

synopsis:
Based on Rudyard Kipling's timeless stories and inspired by Disney’s classic animated film, “The Jungle Book” is an all-new live-action epic adventure about Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), a man-cub who's been raised by a family of wolves. But Mowgli finds he is no longer welcome in the jungle when fearsome tiger Shere Khan (voice of Idris Elba), who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat. Urged to abandon the only home he's ever known, Mowgli embarks on a captivating journey of self-discovery, guided by panther-turned-stern mentor Bagheera (voice of Ben Kingsley), and the freespirited bear Baloo (voice of Bill Murray).

Along the way, Mowgli encounters jungle creatures who don't exactly have his best interests at heart, including Kaa (voice of Scarlett Johannsson), a python whose seductive voice and gaze hypnotizes the man-cub, and the smooth-talking King Louie (voice of Christopher Walken), who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to the elusive and deadly red flower: fire. The all-star cast also includes Lupita Nyong'o as the voice of the fiercely protective mother wolf Raksha, and Giancarlo Esposito as the voice of wolf pack's alpha male Akela. "The Jungle Book" seamlessly blends live-action with photorealistic CGI animals and environments, using up-to-the-minute technology and storytelling techniques to immerse audiences in an enchanting and lush world..

 

directed by   Jon Favreau

starring   Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Giancarlo Esposito, Lupita Nyong'o, Christopher Walken

release date   April 15, 2016

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