The cast for Warner Bros.’ JUNGLE BOOK: ORIGINS has filled out nicely today. Benedict Cumberbatch was announced earlier as the voice of Shere Khan and now the rest of the cast has been announced. Christian Bale will voice Bagheera the panther while director Andy Serkis will voice Baloo the bear. Cate Blanchett has been cast as hypnotic snake Kaa while Peter Mullan plays Akela, the leader of the wolf pack that raises the man cub Mowgli, who will be played by Rohan Chand, the young actor from Jason Bateman’s BAD WORDS. Rounding out the wolf pack are Naomie Harris and Eddie Marsan as Nisha and her mate Vihaan. Finally, Tom Hollander will play Shere Khan’s underling, Tabaqui the jackal. We really can’t keep up with all of The Jungle Book games in terms on consistent castings, but it’s all good.
It’s an impressive cast for Serkis’ feature film debut as director, but the Disney adaptation of THE JUNGLE BOOK, which comes out exactly a year before this Warner Bros. iteration, has filled out the same roles with equally powerful actors including Idris Elba, Ben Kingsley, and Bill Murray. How will the films match up? Will a year be a long enough gap? Will general audiences confuse the Warner Bros. film as a prequel to teh Disney film? Time will tell, but since the Disney version has Christopher Walken as King Louie, my money’s on that one.
Source: THR
