Just a month after Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu had to ditch Warner Brothers’ upcoming THE JUNGLE BOOK due to scheduling conflicts, it seems that Ron Howard might be about to step in.
Howard, if he does take on the project, will be working with a screenplay written by Callie Kloves and based on a story from Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 story collection. Kloves comes from good writing pedigree – her father, Steve Kloves, penned the HARRY POTTER scripts. We’ve been told that Howard would also produce THE JUNGLE BOOK through his own production company, Imagine Entertainment.
The story of Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, and his menagerie of friends and enemies (Baloo, Bagheera and Shere Khan) probably needs little introduction, whether you’ve come to it through Disney’s 1967 animated feature, Kipling’s words or other live-action interpretations.
Warner Bros. will no doubt be pleased with the possibility of Oscar winning Howard; Disney is also working on its own live-action feature with Jon Favreau directing.
It’s all work for Howard at the moment. We reported earlier this week that he’s scheduled to direct MENA, the true life story of drug smuggler Barry Seal, who turned informant for the CIA in the ’80s.
Source: TheHollywoodReporter
