Andy Serkis' Jungle Book: Origins to feature voices of Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale

Actor-filmmaker Andy Serkis has teased his big screen adaptation of The Jungle Book as much more savage than Disney’s recent re-imagining of the classic story. [caption id=“attachment_3796735” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Andy Serkis’ Jungle Book: Origins. Image via Facebook[/caption] The 53-year-old star has directed a motion capture interpretation of Rudyard Kiplings 1894 book for Warner Bros Pictures but the release date was moved from 2016 due to Disney bringing out their own live-action version based on the studios classic animation. Serkis film will now hit cinemas in October 2018 and he has promised audiences will be in for a different experience if they see his beastly adventure which focuses on man cub Mowgli fight for survival against the tiger Shere Khan, reported Contactmusic.

 “We were neck and neck for some time. And the fact of the matter is we probably could’ve come out in cinemas closer together. But the decision was why do that? I saw their film, and its great, but ours is a completely different take. Ours is much more savage. There are no songs, and its not meant for young families.”

In Serkis’ film, Christian Bale plays black panther Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as anaconda Kaa and Benedict Cumberbatch is the villainous Shere Khan, while Mowgli will be played by Rohan Chand. Serkis, besides directing the film, has also given voice to the bear Baloo. Serkis’ film titled Jungle Book: Origins  was initially set to release on 6 October 2017, but was later pushed a year later to 19 October 2018, thus giving the Warner Bros adaptation a good separation and breathing space from Disney’s 2016 rendition, The Jungle Book, which hit the theatres  on April 2015. It was a major box-office hit. Speaking to Vulture about the film during Cannes 2017, Serkis said,“It’s a PG-13, more a kind of ‘Apes’ movie, a slightly darker take, closer to Rudyard Kipling’s. It’s great to scare kids in a safe environment because it’s an important part of development, and we all loved to be scared as kids, so we shouldn’t overly protect them. Kids are so sophisticated, and that is why our ‘Jungle Book’ is quite dark. … It’s a story of an outsider, someone who is trying to accept the laws and customs of a particular way of living and then has to adapt to another culture, a human culture, which of course he should be able to adapt to, because this is what he is. So it’s about two different species and their laws and customs, and neither are entirely right.” (With inputs from PTI)