Bill Murray to Play Baloo in Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’

Bill Murray is headed to Disney’s The Jungle Book, where he will voice the bear Baloo.

The film recently cast Christopher Walken as King Louie and Breaking Bad alum Giancarlo Esposito as Akela, the leader of a wolf pack. Other castmembers include Ben Kingsley (the black panther Bagheera), Lupita Nyong’o (the mother wolf Raksha), Idris Elba (the villainous tiger Shere Khan) and Scarlett Johansson (the python Kaa).

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Neel Sethi, a 10-year-old newcomer, will star as Mowgli, the boy on whom the story centers.

Jon Favreau is directing the live-action/animation combination from a script by Justin Marks. The film hits theaters Oct. 9, 2015.

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A separate live-action adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling novel is being made at Warner Bros. with Andy Serkis directing. That project will hit theaters a year later, on Oct. 21, 2016.

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