Several weeks ago, Debt Free Spending was invited to participate in a blogger press event for Disney’s The Jungle Book. We were very excited to be selected for this exclusive opportunity and I was thrilled to meet and interview the director and cast member from this live-action depiction of the original text by Rudyard Kipling. There was one actor on the list, whose name jumped off the screen and knocked me over. I was going to be interviewing the world renown and extremely versatile, Sir Ben Kingsley.
A silence and respectful hush rippled through the room, when the Shakespearean-trained thespian appeared and took his place at the end of our conference table. Our blogger group spans quite the age range, so I found it particularly interesting to see how each person recognized the incredible character-actor. Personally, I have been in awe of Sir Kingsley since ‘Gandhi (1982)’. Which roles do you recognize?
- The Walk (2015)
- Tut (2015)
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
- Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
- Learning to Drive (2014)
- The Boxtrolls (2014)
- Stonehearst Asylum (2014)
- Ender’s Game (2013)
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Hugo (2011)
- Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2010)
- Shutter Island (2010)
- Oliver Twist (2005)
- House of Sand and Fog (2003)
- Tuck Everlasting (2002)
- Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001)
- Alice in Wonderland (1999)
- Moses (1995)
- Joseph in Egypt (1995)
- Death and the Maiden (1994)
- Schindler’s List (1993)
- Sneakers (1992)
- Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989)
- Gandhi (1982)
Sir Ben Kingley is an extremely gentle and humble man, but his career has produced such varied characters. It was a pleasure to hear his thoughts on Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book:
“I think it’s very close to what Rudyard Kipling envisioned, which was an enormous leap in his imagination – which was a child literally living with and talking with animals.”
When asked about his approach to being Bagheera, Mowgli’s mentor and teacher:
“It varies because either I’m propelled towards a character through recognition or through curiosity.” He explained that without at least curiosity, the audience won’t care either. He then described some of his background with the Royal Shakespeare Company and how “he still is the maestro of storytelling and of putting patterns of human behavior on the stage and the screen. And I think that if I can feel that there’s a genuine pattern of recognizable human behavior, even a little bit with animals – that human element which is healing, which provides an explanation, comfort, entertainment, all of the above, then, I’d love to be part of it. It has to have that human ingredient to it, that moves us forward even a tiny bit as a tribe or species.”
It was fascinating to learn that his approach to Bagheera was militaristic. It was actually pattered after an Indian colonel or general, but Sir Kingsley wisely decided against using his authentic Indian accent.
One of my favorite remarks, was about parenting:
“Whenever I read stories to my children, they would always ask me to read the scary bits over and over again. They would love it, because they were hearing it in a safe place. That’s the ingredient. If they, if they are introduced to that dark side of life in a really safe environment by their parents, then it’s fun.”
The cast and crew for this movie was outstanding. Everyone involved seemed like a family, who were passionate about their project.
It was an amazing experience to learn more about the making of The Jungle Book.
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