Best known for his motion capture work as Gollum, King Kong, Captain Haddock and Caesar the Ape, actor Andy Serkis recently dabbled in directing as he helmed the second unit action of "The Hobbit" trilogy.
Now, Serkis is going it alone and has come onboard to direct the live action version of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" at Warner Bros. Pictures. It is unknown if he will take a part in the movie at this stage.
Serkis replaces Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel") who left due to scheduling conflicts. Ron Howard was briefly in talks, but that didn't go far before Howard turned it down.
Callie Kloves is penning the script which is expected to stick closely to the source material and be the darker of the two versions.
The project remains in the race with Disney's own live-action "Jungle Book" which Jon Favreau will direct and Idris Elba is attached to star in.
Source: Heat Vision