Andy Serkis: 'Mowgli' much closer to Rudyard Kipling's book

Andy Serkis has revealed that his upcoming live-action drama 'Mowgli' will be closer to the world of Rudyard Kipling's 'The Jungle Book'.


The 54-year-old star has directed the film which will be set in the 19th century India.

"It's much closer to the tone of Rudyard Kipling's book and it takes into account the world that Kipling was living in. It's set in 19th century colonial India and it really has that feel and flavour. It's a live action movie so we shot on location. It took almost four years to make. We wanted to put some space between us and Jon Favreau's Disney film, I must say though they are completely different movies you can't really compare the two."

''For instance, we built jungle sets at Leavesden Studios where 'Harry Potter' was filmed and then we went to South Africa and created - and this is the biggest difference between this and the other movie an entire village in South Africa, south of Durban. In this film we see Mowgli try and assimilate himself into the world of man in the Indian village," Serkis said.

The film follows Mowgli (Rohan Chand), who is raised by a pack of wolves as he follows the rules of the jungle. Serkis voice stars as the fun-loving bear, Baloo and Christian Bale lends his voice to the sombre panther, Bagheera the man cub's friends.

The film's voice cast also includes Cate Blanchett as Kaa, Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan, Naomie Harris as Nisha, Peter Mullan as Akela, Jack Reynor as Mowgli's brother Wolf, Eddie Marsan as Vihaan, Tom Hollander as Tabaqui, Freida Pinto as Messua, and Matthew Rhys as Lockwood.