The Jungle Boy

The Jungle BoyRebecca Katzman

导读：Neel Sethi 在迪士尼重拍的电影《森林王子》中扮演主角Mowgli。

Neel Sethi， 12， stars in Disneys live-action remake of The Jungle Book， hitting theaters April 15. He plays Mowgli， an adventurous boy who grows up in the jungle among a group of wild wolves. When a frightening tiger named Shere Khan threatens Mowglis life， the boy leaves his wolf-family and journeys into the depths of the jungle.Along the way， Mowgli meets many animals. Some of them give him trouble， while others help to keep him away from danger. Bill Murray， Lupita Nyongo， and Scarlett Johansson are among the actors who provide the voices for the animal characters. “I cant pick a favorite actor to work with，” Neel told TFK. “Theyre all really cool.”

As the only human with a starring role in the movie， Neel filmed most of his scenes in front of a blue screen. This is a special backdrop that lets a separately filmed or animated background be added to the final image later on. He acted many of his scenes out with puppets and other props that were finally replaced by animated animals and jungle landscapes.

To prepare for all of the running and swinging that Mowgli does in the film， Neel trained in parkour， an activity that involves quick movements. “I run and jump around on my own time anyways，” Neel says， “so it really wasnt that hard to turn into Mowgli.”

Neel grew up in New York City， a setting thats very different from the wild jungle that Mowgli calls home. Yet the two boys have a lot in common， Neel says. “Mowgli and I are very similar， so there was no real character change. Were both very adventurous and energetic.”

Vocabulary

threaten v. 威胁

backdrop n. 背景

animated adj. 活生生的，动画的

prop n. 道具

parkour n. 跑酷

（Have you watched the film？ What do you think of it？）