THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 26, 1994 TAG: 9412240037
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
IT'S A JUNGLE out there. It's a jungle in here, too.
At the moment, Caboe is sniffing my hand. His trainer, Rick Glasey, isn't helping things. ``Don't make any sudden moves or talk loud,'' he whispered. ``He doesn't like that.''
The 135-pound black leopard, one of the stars of ``Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book,'' lives with two male tigers and is very aggressive. He always eats first; the preferred diet is ``beef, kidney, liver and little chickens.''
That means I'm safe. I'm a big chicken.
In the new movie, which opened Friday, Caboe plays Bagheera, a panther from India. Glasey said the average moviegoer won't know the difference, and he's probably right. But look too closely, and you may notice something else.
Like a Southern pine or two dotting the jungle. Because the animals - 52 tigers, leopards, wolves, bears, elephants, horses, bulls and monkeys - could not be taken to India, jungles were created in the mountains near Cookeville, Tenn., and on Fripp Island, S.C. Tropical vegetation was used for camouflage.
Right now, Caboe is in the ballroom of a Pasadena, Calif., hotel, flopped over and sound asleep near my feet. The lights have been turned down because the leopard likes it that way. With the big cat asleep, we can talk - quietly - about Walt Disney's big animal flick.
Not since ``Doctor Doolittle'' have so many trained animals been used for a movie. Twenty-five to 30 trainers were needed, Glasey said, to get the different species to perform together in a single scene.
``Their natural instinct might be to attack each other,'' he said. ``A tremendous amount of patience is needed. We brought all the animals to Tennessee a month before filming began. They needed to become accustomed to the new climate, particularly to waterfalls, which scared them at first.
``In each case, we had lead animals who were more carefully trained. We introduced the lead wolf to the lead bear and took them for long walks together to get them comfortable with one another and to realize that they weren't going to attack one another. They're never going to be best buddies.''
Nick Toth was responsible for the bears and wolves; the wolf pack numbered 14, including three lead wolves who worked more with ``The Jungle Book's'' human stars, Jason Scott Lee and Lena Headey.
``Wolves are not trainable like dogs,'' he said. ``They won't do anything for nothing, to put it frankly. They can be trained only by giving them rewards. A wild wolf will not attack a human. Domesticated wolves generally are very timid. They'll run if you don't watch. You have to build up their confidence.''
Sometimes, Glasey added, three bears were needed for a simple scene. ``One is good at something like letting star Jason Scott Lee ride on him. Another bear might waltz nicely. A third is a good runner and a good snarler. It takes a lot of patience to get the scene.''
Casey, a North American black bear, is one of those assigned to play the famous Baloo. The trouble is Baloo is brown, and Casey is a Canadian black bear. An eight-year film veteran, he took the special makeup in stride. He even discovered a new delicacy - fried chicken.
Jason Scott Lee, who rose to stardom by way of ``Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'' and the art-theater hit ``Map of the Human Heart,'' won the role of Mowgli, the boy raised by wild animals, over hundreds of prospects.
``They wanted an Indian actor, but couldn't find one.'' Lee, who is Hawaiian, again goes though most of the film with his shirt off. He laughed. ``In my next film, I'd like to wear an Armani suit and have more emotional scenes than physical ones.''
This is the third time ``The Jungle Book'' has been filmed. Sabu starred in the 1942 version directed by Zoltan Korda; 25 years later, Disney filmed its celebrated animated version featuring the voices of Phil Harris, Louis Prima and Sebastian Cabot.
Director Stephen Sommers isn't worried about comparisons with the first film. ``Animals are never even seen in the same frame with humans there. But we can't compete at all with the animated version. That's an entirely different field. We don't have any songs, and none of our animals talk.''
The major problem, he said, was developing a continuous narrative; Kipling wrote a series of brief stories. ``The first draft of the script was 175 pages long.
Sommers also was determined to see that the animals weren't mistreated. ``I didn't want any animal to be asked to do something I wouldn't let my dog do. The trainers in India, who dealt with the small monkeys, tended to be cruel to them at times, using leashes. We asked that they put a stop to it. It just took us longer to get the scenes.''
Critics have worried, though, that some scenes might be too violent for small children. Sommers disagrees.
``We've tested it like crazy, and it's played like gangbusters,'' he said. ``I really don't think they'll be too frightened. It's like `Robin Hood' or `Captain Blood.' As a kid, I liked that kind of thing.''
Here are a few hints for keeping track of what's happening where in ``The Jungle Book.''
Scenes with really lush jungle vegetation were shot in South Carolina.
Scenes involving animals were shot in Tennessee, with an exception: A scene with little monkeys takes place in India, but King Louis, the king of the monkeys, was in Tennessee. A special technique is used to bring them all together.
Interiors - palaces, forts and such - were shot on soundstages in Jodhpur, a city of 225,000 in northwest India, near the Pakistan border. Site of the British fortress, Meherangarth Fort, it was chosen because a portion of the movie takes place within the fort.
Temperatures soared to 137 degrees; cast and crew cooled off with 1,400 bottles of water a day. The water budget alone was $70,000.
``Although India makes more movies than any country in the world, most of the equipment is antiquated,'' Sommers said. ``All our cameras and other electrical equipment had to be imported.''
He emphasized that ``The Jungle Book'' is a myth, a folk myth.
``It certainly can't be taken literally. These species, including the human species, would never be together in the wild. At one level or another, you have to suspend disbelief. We just didn't want audiences to have to suspend more than possible.''
Meanwhile, Caboe has woken from his nap and is casually lumbering toward the door. It may be only a movie, but this cat is for real. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Disney
Jason Scott Lee stars as Mowgli in "Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle
Book," which requires 52 wild animals, the most for a movie since
1967's "Doctor Doolittle."
Jason Scott Lee is raised by wild animals in the Disney film.
Baloo helps Jason Scott Lee inpress Lena Headey in "The Jungle
Book."
Photos by DISNEY
Jason Scott Lee appears with 52 wild animals, including the riotous
orangutan, King Louie, in ``Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.''
The wolf pack numbered 14 in the movie. Trainer Nick Toth says
wolves ``can be trained only by giving them rewards.''
by CNB