Trivia / The Jungle Book (1994)

• Actor-Shared Background: Sam Neill had several family members who had served in the British Army during the time of the Raj.
• California Doubling: Some of the Indian jungles didn't have the look the filmmakers wanted, so South Carolina doubled for the scenes with Bagheera and Shere Khan, and Tennessee for the scenes with Baloo and the wolf pack.
• Creator-Chosen Casting:
  • Jason Scott Lee was Stephen Sommers's first and only choice for Mowgli.
  • Dr Julius Plimford was written with John Cleese in mind.
• Fake Nationality: The adult Indian Mowgli being played by Chinese-Hawaiian Jason Scott Lee.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The DVD of this film went out of print around 2005, and the film wasn't available again until Disney launched Movies Anywhere in 2014 and included this film among their first batch of titles.
• Milestone Celebration: The film was released on the centennial of Rudyard Kipling's original book being released. Indian producer Raju Patel backed the film for that reason.
• Playing Against Type: We don't think anyone, especially those who grew up with The Princess Bride, could have ever imagined Cary Elwes playing such a despicable character. Those who have seen his other villain roles shouldn't be too surprised, though.
• Romance on the Set: Lena Headey and Jason Flemyng became a couple during the making of this film and remained together for nine years before breaking up in 2003.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Before Stephen Sommers came on board to direct, there was one script that was 180 pages long, and 70 pages went by without any dialogue.
  • Lt John Wilkins was a much smaller character at first, but Stephen Sommers liked Jason Flemyng so much he wrote more scenes for him.

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