Andy Serkis, best known for his mocap work in The Lord of the Rings, King Kong and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, has signed on to direct Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic stories.
The film will mark Serkis’ feature directorial debut, although he has directed second unit on The Hobbit movies, as well as directing the barrel chase sequence from last year’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel) was originally attached to direct the project but was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, while Ron Howard (Rush) was also said to be in talks with the studio.
Warner Bros.’ Jungle Book movie is said to stick closely to Kipling’s source material and has been penned by Callie Kloves, daughter of Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves, who is also producing. The film is not to be confused with Disney’s rival Jungle Book which has Jon Favreau (Iron Man) directing and Idris Elba (Thor: The Dark World) set to lend his voice to the fearsome tiger Shere Khan.
