Slithery Scarlett Johansson Snakes Her Way Into ‘The Jungle Book’
Scarlett Johansson is the sole voice featured in the new trailer for the anticipated and visually epic live-action version of The Jungle Book. Johansson is the slithery snake Kaa, and what a voice the snake has. Johansson’s sultry sound comes across as a tad creepy, which gives the trailer a Scarlett-y dark undertone.
Scarlett Johansson’s voice melts me. https://t.co/9uqum38rEs
— Superhero Feed (@SuperheroFeed) September 15, 2015
The movie, directed by Jon Favreau (who also directed Iron Man) for Disney, also features the voices of Bill Murray as fun loving bear Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera the black panther, and Lupita Nyong’o as the wolf Raksha, all allies of young Mowgli, played by Neel Sethi. His darker enemies are voiced by Scarlett Johansson as Kaa and Idris Elba as Shere Khan. And the distinct voice of Christopher Walken will be King Louie.
Scarlett Johansson – Kaa Idris Elba – Shere Khan Bill Murray – Baloo Ben Kingsley – Bagheera Lupita Nyong’o – Raksha That’s some CASTING! — Sammy Paul (@ICOEPR) September 15, 2015
The Jungle Book is coming in 2016 and Bill Murray is Baloo and Scarlett Johansson is Kaa, I’m too excited. Fave movie + fave actors YESSSSSS
— foxie (@JadieAva) September 15, 2015
But it’s Scarlett Johansson’s voice that is front and center for the first trailer. The movie is set for in April of 2016.
At the Disney D23 Convention where, according to the Wrap, the Scarlett Johansson-heavy trailer received a standing ovation, director Favreau described The Jungle Book, as quoted by the Standard.
“All of this was shot in downtown Los Angeles. The only live-action character person is Neel Sethi, playing Mowgli. The humans are the only things that are real. The environments, the animals—all of that is generated by artists.”
Recently, Scarlett Johansson was the first female guest on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. Johansson is reported by People to have been so excited to be on the show on September 9 that she flew to New York directly from Paris, where she lives with her husband and daughter.
And all of this comes on the heels of an attempt by Scarlett Johansson to have an English edition of a fictional book featuring her (or, more specifically, a Scarlett Johansson look-a-like who doesn’t want to be a look-a-like to Scarlett Johansson) from being released because, Scarlett argued, it was a “violation and fraudulent and illegal exploitation of her name, her reputation and her image” and made “defamatory claims about her private life,” as reported by the Guardian.
Scarlett Johansson failed in her attempt, and the book, The First Thing You See by French author Grégoire Delacourt, is now available, although it has been panned by the Guardian.
“By accident or design, Delacourt invokes interesting ideas, such as the loneliness involved in having beauty or celebrity, as well as the torment of those without them. Yet the surfaces of celebrity and physical beauty are of limited interest: they are the first thing this novel wants to see – and the only thing. The book doesn’t offer us anything much, other than a brush with ersatz fame.”
As readers may or may not enjoy the book featuring a Scarlett Johansson who is not Scarlett Johansson, it seems moviegoers love Scarlett Johansson as Kaa the snake in The Jungle Book.
[Photo screenshot from movie trailer]
