迪士尼《The Jungle Book》（2016）電影資料

迪士尼《魔幻森林》（Disney's “The Jungle Book”；台譯：《與森林共舞》；中譯：《奇幻森林》）現正上映，本篇網誌特別綜合了所有本網曾在Facebook專頁上與大家分享的有趣電影資料，以作記錄。

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      迪士尼《魔幻森林》的故事原著作者為出生於 印度 孟買 的英國作家吉卜林（Rudyard Kipling）。他於1894年寫成《The Jungle Book》以表達他對家鄉印度的愛。翌年再寫了《The Second Jungle Book》，當中對印度森林和會說話動物的有趣描述，深受不同年齡階層讀者的喜愛，其後陸續出版多部短篇故事集、小說和詩集，於32歲之年成為全球最高薪作家，更在1907年榮獲「諾貝爾文學獎」。

The characters and stories of “The Jungle Book” have reached people from all parts of the world. Bombay-born, English writer Rudyard Kipling channeled his love of India in 1894’s “The Jungle Book,” following with “The Second Jungle Book” in 1895. Though considered children’s books, the stories—with their lush landscapes and talking animals—sparked interest in young and old alike—often introducing readers to India for the first time. Kipling, who wrote the stories while starting a family in Vermont, published additional books and short-story collections, and ultimately became the highest-paid writer in the world at age 32. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

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        人類小孩毛克利（粵語動畫版本稱為毛忌）是電影中 唯一 一個真人角色。扮演毛克利的12歲新星尼爾撒堤（Neel Sethi），是導演從全球多達2,000名試鏡小孩中千挑萬選出來，認為他具備了當年動畫版主角相似的外形和性情，再加上活潑大膽又有幽默感，令他成為最理想人選。今次是尼爾撒堤首度演戲，幸得與小演員有豐富合作經驗的導演循循善誘，再加上他充滿想像力，能夠自行幻想不存在的對手和環境，盡展演戲天份！

Filmmakers cast newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli.  As the only human character to appear on screen, Sethi was called on to not only portray the beloved Mowgli — but to summon incredible imagination skills in order to visualize the other elements in each scene.  The filmmakers did an exhaustive worldwide search of 2,000 kids before we found Neel.  He was one of the last people that I looked at, and right away, the director felt that he had the same emotional and physical qualities that Mowgli had in the ’67 animated version.  His look was uncanny in how much he evoked what we wanted.  He inherently had a good sense of fun and humor.

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       拉克莎是一隻慈愛又勇敢的狼媽媽，不惜一切也要保護牠最關愛的孩子們，包括收養回來的人類小孩毛克利（粵語動畫版本稱為毛忌）。這角色由憑《被奪走的12年》贏得「奧斯卡」最佳女配角的雷碧達尼安高飾演。

Raksha, a loving and fiercely protective mother wolf, cares deeply for all of her pups—including man-cub Mowgli, whom she adopts as one of her own when he’s abandoned in the jungle as an infant.  Oscar® winner Lupita Nyong’o was called on to help bring Raksha to life.

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       為了打造栩栩如生的動物角色，製作人員之前做了深入資料搜集，包括親訪動物園、請教動物專家、觀看大量動物片段和書本圖片等，甚至自己親自演繹動物的各式動作。

The research was extensive.  Artists looked at videos and pictures, read books, visited zoos, consulted animal experts and acted out the movement of animals themselves.

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       製作人員一共打造了超過70種CG動物，當中還特意開發全新電腦程式來模擬動物的肌肉、皮膚和毛髮。

More than 70 CG animal species were created from scratch for the film, including the iconic characters that take center stage — Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, Shere Khan and Mowgli’s wolf family — plus hundreds of primates, including King Louie and the Bander-log—the army of monkeys populating the Seeonee jungle.  New programs were built to simulate muscles, skin and fur, while artists strived to include even the subtlest behaviors from real-life animals to ensure believability.

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       為了打造一個全CG森林，製作人員特意前往印度森林，實地拍攝了多達十萬張照片以作參考，務求由地勢、河流以至一塊落葉的每個細節都做到十足真實感！

Artists at MPC’s Bangalore, India, studio took 100,000 photographs of real locations, creating a massive library of resource material that was matched to the finest details.  The result is authentic-looking moss, bark, rock and water.  Each scene is handcrafted plant by plant, detailed down to thousands of scattered broken leaves, and vines that grow across the landscapes.  There are rushing rivers, mudslides and grasses blowing in the wind.

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       為了幫助唯一的真人主角尼爾撒堤（Neel Sethi）易於入戲，導演找來一些演員與他做對手戲，有時甚至自己親自上陣，又安排特製的動物木偶與他同台演出，再於後期製作把這些演員或木偶刪掉。

Filmmakers employed puppeteers from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to keep the scenes fresh for Sethi.  On set, against a sea of blue screen, the puppeteers synced their actions to vocal tracks that were recorded by the voice actors.

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