Although Walt Disney Pictures already has Jon Favreau attached to direct their own take on the Rudyard Kipling classic, Deadline is today reporting that Warner Bros. is eyeing 21 Grams and Babel director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu to helm their version of The Jungle Book.
The original book was published in 1894 and includes, among a number of other animal-themed stories, the classic tales of an Indian boy named Mowgli who is raised by wolves and lives among the other animals in the jungle.
Disney previously released an animated version of the film in 1967 and another live-action film in 1994. Their latest take features a screenplay by Justin Marks while the Warner Bros. version is drafted by Callie Kloves, the daughter of producer Steve Kloves.
Inarritu’s next, Birdman, is a comedy starring Michael Keaton, Lindsay Duncan, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts. It should receive a release sometime in 2014 through Fox Searchlight.
(Photo Credit: WENN.com)
