The Jungle Book
Short description
Based on Rudyard Kipling's stories, The Jungle Book follows Mowgli, a boy lost in the jungle during childhood and raised among wild animals. As a young man he returns to civilization, drawn there by Kitty Brydon, a friend from before his disappearance and now the daughter of a British colonel in colonial India. His presence unsettles the British community, and he becomes the target of Captain William Boone, a corrupt officer who is engaged to Kitty and who wants both her and the treasures of a lost monkey city that only Mowgli can locate.
Stephen Sommers directed and co-wrote the film with Ronald Yanover and Mark Geldman for Walt Disney Pictures. It was Sommers' second feature, following The Adventures of Huck Finn the previous year, and preceded Deep Rising and The Mummy. Jason Scott Lee plays Mowgli, with Cary Elwes as Boone, Lena Headey as Kitty, Sam Neill as her father and John Cleese as Dr. Julius Plumford.
Made on a budget of about 27 million dollars, the film took roughly 54 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6 out of 10 from more than 18,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 6 out of 10 from around 500 votes. A critics' rating of 6.6 out of 10 from 45 reviews places it somewhat above those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Unlike all other adaptations of the story about the human cub, Shere Khan does not act as a villain here. In Sommers' version, Shere Khan is more of a neutral force of nature. Sommers stated that after seeing firsthand how majestic tigers actually are, he could no longer allow Shere Khan to be killed for his actions.
- During the filming of Shere Khan, only the essential members of the crew remained on set.
- The leopard wore a collar at all times. During the filming of the scene where Mowgli walks behind the beast holding onto its tail, a trainer was present off-camera holding the animal on a chain. Children were not present on set at all during the filming of the predatory cats; adult stunt doubles were used exclusively for those scenes. The scene in which Mowgli comes nose-to-nose with Bagheera was filmed using a blue screen. The child and his reaction to the beast were filmed on location. Then, the leopard was filmed in a close-up at the studio. During post-production, both images were merged into a single shot.
- When Walt Disney Pictures joined the project, the film's budget increased from $18 million to nearly $30 million.
- For the scenes with King Louie, the orangutan was filmed in a studio pavilion in Los Angeles in front of a blue screen (due to certain restrictions regarding primates, filming on location in India was not possible). According to director and screenwriter Stephen Sommers, working with this animal was the easiest and most amusing part.
- According to director and screenwriter Stephen Sommers, the most difficult scene to film was the one where Mowgli runs for help to Dr. Plumbford (played by John Cleese) after Baloo is wounded. The camera was mounted on an ATV, and lead actor Jason Scott Lee ran alongside it, trying his best to stay in the frame.
- The ambient temperature during the filming in the lost city of the monkeys reached up to 58 degrees Celsius.
- The character played by Ron Donachie (named Harley) met his end in quicksand.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
