EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is in early talks with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu to helm The Jungle Book, a new version of the Rudyard Kipling novel about an orphaned boy raised in the wilderness by animals. This is one of the studio’s priority projects, with a script by Callie Kloves, daughter of Harry Potter series scribe Steve Kloves, who is producing.

It is not the only Jungle Book project in the woods either. Disney is moving along with its own live action version of The Jungle Book, recently hiring Elf and Iron Man helmer Jon Favreau to direct the film. The book is public domain, but as usual the first one to make it into production usually becomes king of the jungle. After a series of serious dramas including Amores Perros, Babel and 21 Grams, Inarritu took a turn toward comedy in his most recent film, wrapping Birdman. He’s also aligned to the New Regency 1820s frontier revenge tale The Revenant. Inarritu is repped by CAA.

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