Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale recently worked together on Terrance Malick’s King of Cups, but they’ll be reuniting again soon (at least on screen) as they take on two major roles in Warner Bros. The Jungle Book. Just yesterday we let you know Benedict Cumberbatch was joining Warner Bros. The Jungle Book as Shere KHAAAAAAAAN but today he’s joined by Bale, Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsan, Peter Mullan and young actor Rohan Chand (Mowgli) in the Andy Serkis directed film. The Hollywood Reporter has the details on who is who: Serkis will play Baloo the bear, while Bale will voice Bagheera, a fearsome panther, both of whom save Mowgli from the killer tiger Shere Khan (Cumberbatch) and teach him the law of the jungle. Blanchett will voice Kaa, a sinister python who is also a friend to Mowgli, while Hollander will play Tabaqui, the jackal who is an underling of Shere Khan. Mullan will be Akela, the leader of the wolf pack that raises Mowgli. Harris … [Read more...] about Andy Serkis’ The Jungle Book Fills Out Its Cast With Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, & More

Empty Sundance Film FestivalPARK CITY -- After highly imaginative explorations of man's natural instincts ("Human Nature") and the interplay of memory, dreams and personal relationships ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "The Science of Sleep"), Michel Gondry has turned his playful gaze to film itself. "Be Kind Rewind" wants to probe the interplay among films, their audience and the people who make them. It's an exuberant, fanciful fable set amid the scruffy outskirts of American society, where people's need for escapism coincides with their desire to participate in its creation. For all of Gondry's undeniable talent, it would be hard to imagine him pulling off this delicate and even cornball conceit without his star, Jack Black. With irrepressible exuberance and going-in-five-directions energy, Black is the embodiment of Gondry's whimsical notion that a small-town Ed Wood could infect an entire downtrodden neighborhood with the filmmaking fever. As with most Gondry films, … [Read more...] about Be Kind Rewind Hollywood Reporter

Warner Bros. has cast an entire zoo’s worth of actors for its adaptation of The Jungle Book, which Andy Serkis is directing. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsanand Peter Mullan are joining Benedict Cumberbatch to star as the animal characters in the feature. Rohan Chand, the young actor who starred opposite Jason Bateman in Bad Words, will star as the human boy Mowgli. Serkis will also take on a role. Callie Kloves wrote the script, adapting the Rudyard Kipling short stories, while her father, Steve Kloves,the screenwriter who wrote seven of the Harry Potter films for the studio,is producing with Jonathan Cavendish. The movie will employ a mix of motion capture, CG animation and live action. Jungle Book centers on Mowgli, an orphaned boy raised by wolves who befriends members of the animal kingdom who help him grow up. Serkis will play Baloo the bear, and Bale will voice Bagheera, a fearsome panther, both of whom save Mowgli from the killer … [Read more...] about Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett Join ‘Jungle Book: Origins’ (Exclusive)