D23 Interviews: Jon Favreau and The Jungle Book Cast

Interviews with Jon Favreau and The Jungle Book cast

Amidst things like Star Wars and Captain America: Civil War, fans at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California may not have been expecting to be blown away by footage from The Jungle Book, the live-action/CGI version of the animated classic. It was easily the biggest surprise of the Expo outside of the two upcoming Star Wars-based theme parks. Getting to hear the voice of Bill Murray as Baloo the Bear singing “The Bear Necessities” was a highlight of the event.

Directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man), the film is based on Rudyard Kipling’s story as well as the animated film. It’s described as follows: “The Jungle Book is an all-new, live-action epic adventure about Mowgli (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 (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 (Ben Kingsley), and the free-spirited bear Baloo. Along the way, Mowgli encounters jungle creatures who don’t exactly have his best interests at heart, including Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), a python who’s seductive voice and gaze hypnotizes the man-cub, and the smooth-talking King Louie (Christopher Walken), who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to the elusive and deadly red flower: fire.”

ComingSoon.net got a chance to chat with Favreau, Sethi and Kingsley backstage at the big event. Favreau talked about bringing the classic animated film to life and what a thrill it was to finally see it all on the big screen after all his work. He also talked about finding the right kid to carry a movie like this and how wonderful Sethi was to work with. Sethi told us how excited he was to work with big names like this and Kingsley talked about bringing the humanity to a character like this and why working with Sethi in person made a huge difference.

Check out the video below and stay tuned to ComingSoon.net’s D23 Expo Hub for more news and information from the event. The Jungle Book will hit theaters on April 15, 2016.

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