The Jungle Book: 17 Easter Eggs & References You Need To See
1. The Famous Book
In the olden. golden Disney days, films would open with a real storybook that would blend into the animation. Favreau chose to reverse the trope for the end of his version of the movie:
I noticed that The Jungle Book starts with a real book on blue velvet opening up and theres a drawing. And you push into the drawing and it becomes a cartoon. But the book never closes. So my fantasy was to close that book. So I talked to Disney and they said, Well, it might be in the archives. I say, Please see if you have the book. They dug it up. They found the leather-bound book from the movie.
But they said, You cant touch it. Somebody showed up with a white glove. Nobody could handle it. We set up to match the table exactly. So the end of the movie we freeze on the frame. It goes to a drawing.
In order to capture the effect of the book bouncing along to Christopher Walken signing I Wanna Be Like You and then opening up, serious effects work had to be called on:
So there was the archivist with a broom handle under the table bouncing the book up and down. Then once it opens it goes back to digital and the pages flip with little vignettes from the movie. Its super-cool.
talk about high-tech.
Which other Easter Eggs and references did you spot in The Jungle Book? Share your favourites below in the comments thread.