King Louie
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King Louie | |
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The Jungle Book character | |
First appearance | The Jungle Book (1967) |
Created by | Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, John Lounsbery, and Walt Disney |
Voiced by | Louis Prima (The Jungle Book) Jim Cummings (TaleSpin, Jungle Cubs (as an adult), The Jungle Book Groove Party, 1990-present) Jason Marsden (Jungle Cubs season 1) Cree Summer (Jungle Cubs season 2) Christopher Walken (2016 live-action film) |
In-universe information | |
Species | Bornean orangutan Gigantopithecus (2016 film) |
Gender | Male |
King Louie is a fictional character introduced in Walt Disney's animated musical film The Jungle Book. He is an orangutan who leads other jungle primates and wants to become more human-like by gaining knowledge of fire from Mowgli. King Louie is an original character not featured in Rudyard Kipling's original works.
The filmmakers originally considered Louis Armstrong for the role, but fearing the controversy that may result from casting a black person as an ape, they instead chose Italian-American and fellow New Orleans native Louis Prima.[1] Prima considered playing King Louie as one of the highlights of his career, and felt he had become "immortal" thanks to Walt Disney and the entire studio.
Following a legal dispute with Prima's widow, Gia Maione, up until she died in 2013, King Louie was absent from new Disney productions until his appearance in the 2016 live-action The Jungle Book film remake (where he was voiced by Christopher Walken).
The Jungle Book (1967)
Although the Disney adaptation is based on the Kipling stories,[2] the character King Louie does not appear in Rudyard Kipling's original book, as orangutans are not native to India in real life. Kipling also states in the original that the Bandar-log, the monkeys over which King Louie rules in the film, have no effective leadership, let alone a king.[3] In the book, Mowgli is abducted by a band of unidentified, leaderless Bandar-log monkeys.
Bill Peet's original story for the film did not feature King Louie but did feature a larger primate without a tail. Peet left The Walt Disney Company on January 29, 1964, due to a dispute regarding the contents of his script, so his ultimate vision for the king of the Bandar-log remains unknown.[4] Development of the story continued following Peet's departure, with his darker story giving way to a new emphasis on lightheartedness and jazzy tunes.[5]
Songwriters,
Popular jazz and swing performer
The Jungle Book (1994)
A slightly different version of King Louie appears in Disney's 1994 live-action film, portrayed by a trained Bornean orangutan named Lowell. He is once again an orangutan "leader" of a group of monkeys that make their home in an abandoned human city. This version gets his name from King Louis XIV, whose crown he wears. Kaa, a giant snake, appears to serve him. King Louie can summon him with a clap of his hands, even using him to ward off and kill intruders for his own amusement. He initially acts as a rival to Mowgli, but later warms up to him after seeing him defeat Kaa. Louie later watches the battle between Mowgli and Captain William Boone (Cary Elwes), applauding Mowgli for defeating Boone, before sending Kaa to kill Boone.
According to director Stephen Sommers, Lowell was the easiest and most comical animal to work with during filming. Lowell was the only animal actor to portray his character all throughout the film and his scenes were filmed on bluescreen stages in Los Angeles, due to the filming crew being unable to transport him to India.
The Jungle Book (2016)
In the film, Louie offers Mowgli protection from Shere Khan in exchange for the secret of making fire, which he and his fellow Bandar-log plan to use to take over the jungle. While accommodating and friendly at first, he quickly becomes more spiteful and impatient, refusing to believe Mowgli's protests that he does not know how to make fire. He is briefly distracted by the appearance of Baloo, allowing Mowgli to be rescued by Bagheera.
However, they are spotted by one of Louie's pig-tailed macaque servants, and Louie orders the trio to be captured. Louie goes after Mowgli himself, trying to coerce him into staying by informing him of Akela's death. Mowgli refuses to believe this, and an infuriated Louie chases him through the temple, inadvertently destroying the pillars supporting his temple, and causing it to collapse over him. His Bandar-log start digging through the rubble to find him.
During the credits, Louie is shown emerging from the rubble and performs "
Other appearances
TaleSpin
In the Disney animated television series TaleSpin, Louie (voiced by Jim Cummings) is a fun-loving orangutan who wears a Hawaiian shirt, a straw hat, and a lei. He owns an island nightclub restaurant and hotel called "Louie's Place", located near but outside the protection of the city of Cape Suzette. It also serves as a refueling station/pit stop area for pilots. Louie is Baloo's best friend (unlike in The Jungle Book, but like in the later Jungle Cubs), but can be competitive with him when it comes to women, treasure-hunting, along with business and monetary matters. His hold on the island is somewhat tenuous, even though through his own ingenuity and with the aid of his friends, he has managed to avoid losing it (in the episode "Louie's Last Stand").
Jungle Cubs
In the Disney animated television series Jungle Cubs, Louie (voiced by Jason Marsden in Season 1, and Cree Summer in Season 2) is a juvenile orangutan and Baloo's best friend. He is very physically active, spending a great deal of his time in trees and eating bananas. Prince Louie (as he is referred to in the show) wants to become king of the jungle one day, and when any man-made objects turn up he immediately shows great interest. Jim Cummings voices the character as an adult on three animated segments featured on the VHS releases of the series.
The Jungle Book 2
Although King Louie is absent in the second film
Fables comic series
King Louie appears in the
In Fables, Louie is wrongly described as a "Kipling" character; on his official forums, Fables author Bill Willingham cited Louie's appearance in Fables as "a very good example of why it's best to go back to the source material before one embarks on a major story, rather than rely on the often faulty memory of which characters were original canon and which weren't".[14]
Other appearances
- Q.T., an orangutan who looks very similar to King Louie, is one of the main characters in Dumbo's Circus.
- Due to Gia Maione's legal dispute at the time, Louie is replaced by his very identical twin brother Larry in the House of Mouse episode "King Larry Swings In".
- Louie appears as a meetable character at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
- In a 1978 live-action sketch titled The Wonderful World of Ernie from Morecambe and Wise, which parodied "I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)", King Louie is played by Ernie Wise using a full costume, although lip-synching to Louis Prima's original recording.[15]
- King Louie appears as an unlockable playable character in Disney Magic Kingdoms.[16]
- King Louie appears as a playable character in the mobile game Disney Heroes: Battle Mode.[17]
Reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2008) |
The characterization of King Louie has frequently been cited as an example of
In his 2004 book The Gospel According to Disney, Mark Pinsky asserts that a child in the current environment (as opposed to in the late 1960s) would not discern any racial dimension to the portrayal. Pinsky also relates Orlando Sentinel's film critic Jay Bogar's assertion that "the primates could be perceived as representing African Americans in a time of turmoil, but [that Bogar] saw no racism in the portrayal".[19]
References
- New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-664-22591-9. Retrieved November 10, 2008.
- OCLC 51213343.
- )
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
- ^ a b Richard M. Sherman (2007). The Jungle Book (audio commentary). The Jungle Book Platinum Edition DVD: Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
- ^ a b Johnson, Quendrith. "Richard Sherman on Hits for Walt Disney, THE BOYS & Ringo Starr". FilmFestivals.com. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
- OCLC 61309354.
- OCLC 719387479.
- ^ "Louis Prima". Biography. A&E Television Networks. April 2, 2014. Archived from the original on May 16, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
- ^ Scott, Mike (April 15, 2016). "For 'Jungle Book' purists, you just can't spell primate without 'Prima'". nola.com. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
- ^ "Christopher Walken to voice King Louie in 'Jungle Book' remake – The Times of India". The Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
- ^ Annika Harris (March 21, 2016). "First Look: Lupita Nyong'o, Idris Elba & Others In 'The Jungle Book'". UPTOWN Magazine. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
- ^ Re: Questions for Bill 2009 Archived March 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, at Clockwork Storybook; posted June 18, 2009; retrieved December 7, 2012
- ^ "Morecambe&Wise - The Jungle Book - I Wanna Be Like You - Disney spoof". YouTube. December 14, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
- ^ Disney Magic Kingdoms (Gameloft) (September 27, 2017). "Update 14: The Jungle Book | Trailer". YouTube.
- ^ "Update 2.1 Patch Notes". Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. June 19, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- ISBN 978-0-253-20978-8. Retrieved October 16, 2008.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-664-22591-9. Retrieved October 16, 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-7423-5. Retrieved October 16, 2008.