Matthew Jenner
Staff Writer
The jungle is just about to get an extra dose of talent, as Academy Award winner Christopher Walken and Emmy-nominated Giancarlo Esposito are set to voice characters in the upcoming live-action film version of Rudyard Kipling’s iconic The Jungle Book.
Walken will be lending his iconic voice to King Louie, the king of the apes, while Esposito will be playing Akela, the leader of the pack of wolves that adopt Mowgli. Both are surprising, but strangely fitting, choices for the characters, who were voiced by jazz icon Louis Prima and John Abbott respectively in the beloved 1967 animated Disney version.
They join a cast that includes Academy Award winners Ben Kingsley (as the dignified panther Bagheera) and Lupita Nyong’o (as Mowgli’s adoptive mother), with Scarlett Johansson playing Kaa the snake, and Idris Elba voicing the villainous Shere Khan.
Now the only major role left to cast is the adorable and fun-loving, good-natured bear Baloo.