Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett join `The Jungle Book`

Los Angeles: Actors Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett have joined Benedict Cumberbatch to star in Warner Bros` `Jungle Book: Origins`. Actors Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsan and Peter Mullan have also been roped for the adaptation of `The Jungle Book`.

Rohan Chand, the young actor who starred opposite Jason Bateman in `Bad Words`, will star as the human boy Mowgli. Blanchett, 45, will voice Kaa, a sinister python who is also a friend to Mowgli, while Hollander will play Tabaqui, the jackal who is an underling of Shere Khan. Mullan will be Akela, the leader of the wolf pack that raises Mowgli. Harris is the female wolf Nisha, while Marsan is her mate, Vihaan. Serkis will play Baloo the bear, and Bale, 40, will voice Bagheera, a fearsome panther, both of whom save Mowgli from the killer tiger Shere Khan (Cumberbatch) and teach him the law of the jungle. The movie will employ a mix of motion capture, CG animation and live action. Callie Kloveshas has written the script, adapting the Rudyard Kipling short stories, while her father, Steve Kloves, the screenwriter who wrote seven of the `Harry Potter` films is producing the film with Jonathan Cavendish.