Saturday, April 26, 2014

Scarlett Johansson & Lupita Nyong'o in Talks for Disney's 'Jungle Book'

Lupita Nyong'o / Scarlett Johansson
With Pacific Rim star Idris Elba already lined up to voice the antagonist tiger Shere Khan in Disney's gestating live-action and CG hybrid adaptation of The Jungle Book from director Jon Favreau, there's still plenty of roles to be filled. THR reports two top notch actresses have joined the mix with Scarlett Johnansson and recent Best Actress  Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o entering talks for two more animal roles. The story follows a young boy named Mowgli who lives and is raised in the jungle, and while that part has yet to be cast, Johansson will play another villainous animal in the form of Kaa, the hypnotizing python.
Meanwhile, Nyong'o will play Rakcha, a mother wolf who adopts Mowgli as her own. When Elba was cast, it was indicated that he would not only voice the animal character, but also act out his role as the tiger, so we're betting there's some motion-capture involved with this film. The project seems to be moving faster than the version set up at Warner Bros. with Andy Seriks of Lord of the Rings and King Kong motion-capture acting fame set to direct the competing adaptation, but it seems like both projects will end up making it to the big screen. That seems excessive but we'll see which one audiences prefer.

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