10 Interesting Facts about the movie The Jungle Book

THE JUNGLE BOOK opens in theatres everywhere in 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D on April 15th!

It was a busy Monday morning but I took some time to drive to Los Angeles to meet the cast of The Jungle Book. I watched the movie and will have a review for you this week. For now I will have some interesting facts about the movie and the actors for you. What an amazing panel of very talented people. ​

Although not all the actors were there we got to interview Jon Favreau (Director), Neel Sethi (“Mowgli”), Sir Ben Kingsley (voice of “Bagheera”), Lupita Nyong'o (voice of “Raksha”), Giancarlo Esposito (voice of “Akela”) and Brigham Taylor (Producer).

Interesting facts

1. The all-star cast also includes Lupita Nyong'o as the voice of the fiercely protective mother wolf Raksha.
2. The cast also includes Giancarlo Esposito as the voice of wolf pack’s alpha male Akela.
3. “The Jungle Book” seamlessly blends live-action with photorealistic CGI animals and environments, using up-to-the-minute technology and storytelling techniques to immerse audiences in an enchanting and lush world. 
4. Neel Sethi, now 12, was selected from thousands of candidates following a worldwide search for the perfect man-cub. 
5. Rudyard Kipling penned the collection of short stories, “The Jungle Book,” in the early 1890s from his home in Vermont. 
6. State-of-the-art technology is behind larger-than-life jungle creatures that join Neel Sethi’s Mowgli on screen in an all-new, immersive, jaw-dropping viewing experience. 
7. The characters and stories of “The Jungle Book” have reached people from all parts of the world. 
8. Rudyard Kipling, who wrote the stories while starting a family in Vermont, published additional books and short-story collections, and ultimately became the highest-paid writer in the world at age 32. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. 
9. The original movie was released on Oct. 18, 1967, a year after Disney’s death, the film became a beloved classic. 
10. In lieu of matching CIG environments to an actual jungle, filmmakers decided to build an almost entirely digital jungle.

Other things we learned from the cast 

1. Favreau really wanted to make this movie: “I was compelled with the idea of what can be done with visual effects right now, and specifically what was done in Gravity, where the principle photography was treated like an element of an effects piece. So after thinking about it, I had a take on it, and when we all discussed it, everyone thought it sounded really cool. 100 years ago was the book, 50 years ago was the animated film, and now it’s time to update it for a new generation.”
2. Sir Ben Kingsley met Favreau on the set of Iron Man 3  said the director approached him at a party. “Jon seated himself next to me with a benign smile and invited me to play Bagheera and I think I said yes before he finished his sentence,” 
3. Neel Sethi said he spend 1/12 of his life on set.
4. ​​Lupita Nyong'o got the inspiration to play Raksha from "many mother figures in her life" and the tenacity of her own mother.
5. Giancarlo Esposito told us about how the rules for raising his daughters have been different for each child depending on the personality of the child.
   

We are so excited about this movie. Do not miss the movie review this Friday here on the blog.

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