Following the announcement yesterday that Warner Bros. had cast Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of Shere Khan in the Andy Serkis-directed The Jungle Book: Origins, we’ve now got word on who will be joining him for the film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsan and Peter Mullan will voice characters in the October 21, 2016 release based on Rudyard Kipling’s novel, while Rohan Chand (Bad Words) will star as the human boy Mowgli. Serkis will also take a role in the film.
Serkis will play Baloo the bear, Bale is the panther Bagheera, Blanchett will voice Kaa, Hollander is the jackal Tabaqui, Mullan will be leader of the wolf pack Akela, Harris is the female wolf Nisha, and Marsan is her mate Vihaan.
Callie Kloves wrote the script, while her father, Steve Kloves (“Harry Potter” films), is producing.
The film will arrive more than a year after Disney’s The Jungle Book (October 9, 2015), directed by Jon Favreau. In that version, Mowgli is played by newcomer Neel Sethi and Idris Elba, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken and Giancarlo Esposito are providing the animal voices.
