Bill Murray Will Voice Baloo For Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’

Bill Murray, paragon of wit, fervent party crasher and just all round fun guy, has been cast as the lovable Baloo the bear for Walt Disney Studio‘s live-action redux of Rudyard Kipling classic The Jungle Book.

He lends his vocals to an already star-studded ensemble, including Christopher Walken as King Louie, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa and Idris Elba as Shere Khan.

In the source novel (and Disney’s original 1967 animation classic), Baloo becomes best pal and fun-loving companion to the young ‘man cub’ Mowgli – who will be played this time around by newcomer Neel Sethi – as he helps lead him through the dangers of the jungle to a human-populated village.

This new interpretation will be directed by Iron Man‘s Jon Favreau, envisioned as a hybrid of live-action and CG animation techniques in a similar vein to 2012’s man-tiger duet Life Of Pi.

Murray already has plenty of mileage in the voice-acting arena, of course, having played lazy, lasagna-loving feline Garfield for two feature-length movies, as well as a small role in Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl adaptation Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. own Jungle adventure (subtitled Origins) has recently received an estimated release of October 2016. Although no cast has been announced, the film will be directed by Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes‘ Andy Serkis, with the animal characters brought to life through motion capture performances.

Disney’s The Jungle Book is due for release in October 2015.