Bale, Blanchett join Jungle Book: Origins

Christian Bale has reportedly signed on to the movie Jungle Book: Origins.

The film, which will be released in October of 2016, will also feature Benedict Cumberbatch as the tiger Shere Khan. The film will be directed by Andy Serkis, who will also voice the bear Baloo. Rohan Chand will play the human boy Mowgli.

E! News confirmed the addition of The Dark Knight’s Christian Bale, Skyfall’s Naomie Harris and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s Cate Blanchett to the Warner Bros.’ movie. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’s Tom Hollander, Sherlock Holmes’s Eddie Marsan and War Horse’s Peter Mullan are also rumoured to be among the cast.

Christian will take up the role of a panther named Begheera while Cate will voice the snake Kaa and Naomie will voice a wolf named Nisha. The film will use a mix of animation and live-action.

This will be Andy’s first credit as a director. He is known for his work in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which came out in 2011, as well as its sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He also voiced the character Gollum in The Lord of the Rings series.

The actor appeared in The Prestige and is filming Star Wars: Episode VII, which is set to be released on Dec. 18, 2015 and is directed by J.J. Abrams.