I was so excited to see an advanced showing of Disney’s THE JUNGLE BOOK. I loved the film. I thought it was visually remarkable and I loved all the performances in the movie. I had the opportunity to sit down with other bloggers to participate in a roundtable interview with one of the producers of the film, Brigham Taylor.
Brigham Taylor was a really fun person to talk with. He was really good about making us all feel comfortable. Before we started the interview, he asked all of us questions to get to know each of us better. I liked that he did this. It made the interview feel more personal. I was very impressed with the passion Brigham Taylor had for THE JUNGLE BOOK. You could tell that he loved what they had done with the film. Here are some of the questions and thoughts that were discussed during the interview:
Why was Kaa changed to a female in the live action adaptation?
“We felt like we should have more women in the film. It didn’t make sense for some of the other characters but Kaa felt very fluid to us. We also expanded Raksha, who only has one to two lines in the 1967 version. We wanted a little more balance in this movie.”
We discussed the voice cast and voice recording of the film.
Brigham Taylor said that because of the flexibility of voice recording and only needing the actors for a day here and there that they were able to get everyone that they wanted for the film.
The actors were allowed to ad lib during the recording of the movie. Jon Favreau (the director) encouraged this. Brigham Taylor talked especially about Bill Murray recording. “Bill Murray is on the end of the spectrum. He gets the intent of the scene, what the parameters are, and just takes off. I don’t think Bill can exude that kind of charm without doing it his own way. That is really a gift he gives.”
We talked about the development the characters and how we saw similarities to their voice actors. We also discussed the animation of the movie.
When the actors were in the studio doing voice recording sessions, the filmmakers also had GoPro cameras recording and capturing every actor’s performance. “The animators always look at that and incorporate all they can but had to be true the physiology of the animal. Then the animators can take cues from the acting choices the performers made and put them in the animation in clever ways.”
They did a lot of animal research for the THE JUNGLE BOOK. He talked about how the animals in this film have human intellect but they made sure to stay true to the physiology and physical attributes of the animals. He talked about they made sure that the animals in the film were real animals that you could find in the jungle. The animators found real life references of the animals they were animating to make sure the animal’s characteristics and movements were as realistic as possible. “It was human behavior grafted into animal behavior.”
What were some of the technologies that were used in the film?
THE JUNGLE BOOK production and crew used some new technologies to help with the visuals of the film. Brigham Taylor talked about how “there has been advanced character animation since Jurassic Park and it has been improving since.” THE JUNGLE BOOK used some of the same features but the visual effects companies built new software for this film’s visual effects. “This new software was built so they would have the most convincing film for the viewer right down to the musculature of the animal, how that reacts in movement, all the way to the skin and fur. They also adopted new lighting techniques called Ray Tracing Technique, which mimics and behaves like real light does. Light comes in as a ray and reflects off of things, these are things that we all take for granted but this is very difficult to recreate that by hand, so with this new software it’s easier to recreate. We hired them, the visual effects team, very early so they would have time. We had the best to do it. I think that’s why it feels so real.”
How did you decide what songs from the animated film to incorporate into the live action film?
“It was pretty apparent that there were two songs that sit above the rest and come to mind above the others. We weren’t building a musical movie but realized that we had to have music in it or people wouldn’t feel that this was Disney’s updated version of Jungle Book. We felt that if we didn’t include it, we would have had some disappointed folks who associate that music with the story.”
Why was the ending in the live action is different than the animated film.
“We wanted to make a lot of story shifts here. Some were subtle and some were more obvious. That’s one from the beginning we felt like there was a very satisfying story to be told about a boy who is not finding his way out of the jungle but is finding his way and place in the jungle.”
How was working with Neel Sethi, the boy who played Mowgli?
“It was a real joy.” He talked about how lucky they were to find him for the role of Mowgli. He said that most of the time, he was shooting by himself on a soundstage. Brigham Taylor said Neel had incredible stamina because he was the only person on the call sheet and had to do a lot of physical and stunt work. “He had a buoyancy, a smile on his face, a joke a day, and would be dancing around the set. He was an amazing gift for the movie.”
I loved interviewing Brigham Taylor. It was an incredible experience. Make sure you take your family to see Disney’s The Jungle Book. It is a fantastic film and a definite must see. Do not miss it!
Check Out the Trailer:
Like THE JUNGLE BOOK on Facebook
Follow THE JUNGLE BOOK on Twitter
Follow THE JUNGLE BOOK on Instagram
Follow THE JUNGLE BOOK on Pinterest
Follow THE JUNGLE BOOK on Google+
