Bill Murray will voice Baloo the bear in ‘The Jungle Book’.
The ‘Groundhog Day’ actor has joined the cast of Jon Favreau’s forthcoming live-action/CGI blend of Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale alongside a star-studded voice cast which also includes Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson and Lupita Nyong’o.
Elba will voice Shere Khan the tiger, while Johansson is the hypnotic snake Kaa and Nyong’o is Raksha.
Additionally, Sir Ben Kingsley is also part of the project voicing Bagheera the panther and Christopher Walken has signed up to portray ape King Louie.
Relative newcomer Neel Sethi is on board as Mowgli, the human orphan adopted by the animals in the jungle, most notably Bagheera and Baloo.
Justin Marks has updated the story for Disney, and the movie has a release date set for October 9, 2015.
And Favreau isn’t the only filmmaker working on a ‘Jungle Book’ tale.
‘Lord of the Rings’ star Andy Serkis has been attached to make an adaptation for Warner Bros. for some time and his project now has a title and release date.
‘Jungle Book: Origins’ will shoot next year and be released on October 21, 2016.
Bill Murray joins Jungle Book
