Andy Serkis: My Jungle Book film is more ’emotionally truthful’

Andy Serkis has said his new film is a more “emotionally truthful” telling of the Jungle Book story.

The star has directed Mowgli, based on the book by Rudyard Kipling.

Serkis said there is no “Bare Necessities, no singing, no dancing” in his Netflix film, telling Good Morning Britain: “The whole point of ours is it feels more emotionally truthful and it’s a real journey.”

As well as directing, the actor voices the role of Baloo the bear in the CGI live action film – but makes the character more like “a very tough cockney drill sergeant”.

“I based him on a lot of Rudyard Kipling’s poems about Victorian soldiers,” he said.

The film “takes on the tone of the book and also the time that the book was written … We deal slightly with British colonialism. It’s set very culturally specifically in India.”

“The whole point of ours is it feels more emotionally truthful and it’s a real journey,” he said.

“Obviously everyone’s entry point to this world is the 1967 animation and they expect to see singing animals.

“This is focusing on the book and the emotional journey of this child.”

A sneak peek at the new adaptation, Mowgli: Legend Of the Jungle, was recently released.

It boasts a star-studded voice cast, with Serkis signing up Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch and Naomie Harris.