Everything in Benedict Cumberbatch’s career has led up to this. The carefully honed boredness of Sherlock Holmes. The extreme motion-capture faces and silky purr of Smaug. His Star Trek: Into Darkness character who shares the same name as the Jungle Book villain he’s been wonderfully, perfectly cast as.
Shere Khan, of course! We’re shocked it took this long for Andy Serkis (in his directorial debut) and the producers to land on Cumberbatch for the role. Because just look at that face—they wouldn’t even have to animate him any different, he already looks the part. (But if they wanted to do motion-capture—and considering it’s Serkis’ movie—we wouldn’t argue.)
This is not to be confused with Disney’s adaptation of The Jungle Book that’s in the works, starring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, and Idris Elba as Khan. Wait, who are we kidding? This is totally to be confused.