Before Disney had a falling out with Robin Williams over the use of his celebrity in promoting Aladdin (1992), another star turned his back on the studio. Disney's The Jungle Book (1967) featured the raucous character of King Louie. An orangutan living in the jungle who wants desperately to know how humans create fire. He sings the iconic song "I Wan'na Be Like You" along with Baloo the Bear -- voiced by Phil Harris. Created for the Disney film, the character of King Louie was named after his voice actor, Louis Prima. From the 1920s through the 1960s, Prima was a popular Italian-American bandleader and musician known for genres like early R&B, rock 'n' roll, boogie-woogie, and even folk music.
After a couple of casting issues following his work on The Jungle Book, Prima fell out with The Walt Disney Company and would hold a grudge until his death in 1978. Surprising still was his widow taking the studio to court in the 1990s over the release of The Jungle Book on home video. The lawsuit further complicated the ability for Disney to be able to use the character, which led to some creative outcomes in subsequent material involving characters from The Jungle Book.
Disney Fell Out With Louis Prima After The Jungle Book
When Disney was casting The Jungle Book, it was a time when voice acting wasn't the industry that it is today. Animator and story man Bill Peet was actually responsible for bringing the idea of using Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book as material for the next animated venture. This would turn out to be the movie which Peet and Walt Disney himself would fall out over. Peet wanted it to be more serious and close to the source material, and Walt wanted it to be more lighthearted. So, after Peet left the project -- and the company -- the animators went about creating characters for the film. Walt was remembered by his team as saying, "We're going to make our own Jungle Book, and we'll do it our way."
Walt sought to bring more well-known performers into the mix. He personally recommended Harris for the role of Baloo. Harris was an orchestra leader and radio personality who rose to prominence in the 1930s and was well-established by the time The Jungle Book was being produced. Originally, Louis Armstrong was considered for the role of King Louie. However, the idea was quickly discarded. Songwriter Richard Sherman recalled, "We thought it would be great for him, King Louie. But one of the writers said "you know the NAACP is going to jump all over it having a black man playing an ape -- it would be politically terrible." Sherman added, "Louis [Prima] had done an album of Mary Poppins songs, plus he'd done 'Chim Chim Cher-ee' But he did it shuba-duba-duba. I remember I ran upstairs to my office and played that song for the animators and the director of the Jungle Book. They said, 'he's perfect, and his name is Louie!'"
The Jungle Book was truly the first Disney animated film to build the characters more fully around the voice actors. Harris even improvised many of his lines. The animators took a lot of cues off of Harris' performance. George Sanders, who voiced the villain Shere Khan, had his own appearance heavily incorporated into the design of the villainous tiger. The crew of vultures that appear in the movie were heavily inspired by The Beatles -- a rare pop culture reference for Disney. When Prima was added to the cast roster, he added another level of energy to the room. When Sherman was first introducing Prima to the song "I Wa'na Be Like You" Prima asked, "Are you trying to make a monkey out of me?" to which Sherman replied, "No, no, you're an ape; the other guys are monkeys."
The Jungle Book Main Voice Cast |
Phil Harris as Baloo |
Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera |
Louis Prima as King Louie |
George Sanders as Shere Khan |
Sterling Holloway as Kaa |
Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli |
Unfortunately, Prima's relationship with Disney soured after The Jungle Book for a number of reasons. While Prima was considered for parts in Robin Hood (1973), he was ultimately not cast. Although he was considered for Alan-A-Dale -- the singing rooster -- and Little John (voiced by Harris). In response to the slight, he recorded the album "Let's 'Hear' it For Robin Hood," which he would sell to Disneyland Records. Adding insult to injury, Prima's character in The Rescuers (1977) -- a bear named Louis -- was scrapped from the final version of the film. However, this was largely due to Prima's health complications and passing before the film's completion.
Disney Created a New Character to Replace King Louie in House of Mouse
As a character, King Louis developed a life outside The Jungle Book even after Prima's death. This, however, put Disney in hot water with Prima's widow (and fifth wife), Gia Maione. Almost 30 years later, Prima's Junior, Gia, was still very much alive when Disney produced the cartoon show TailSpin. The show featured an updated version of the King Louie character voiced by Disney veteran actor Jim Cummings. Cummings' performance was a near spot-on impression of Prima. She also went on to sue a Canadian music company for unpaid royalties to Prima's estate.
In Disney's settlement with Maione, they were limited from using the King Louie character. What further incensed Maione was the release of The Jungle Book on home video in 1991. In 2001, The Advocate noted:
Prima's 1965 Jungle Book contract called for him to be paid $1,500 per day for his work on the film, with a guaranteed minimum of $7,500. In addition, he was to receive a royalty based on the sales of recordings. Exactly what type of recordings were entitled to royalty payments was at the heart of the dispute.
Gia claimed the estate had received none of the royalties to which it was entitled. Her complaint was specifically that Disney did not have "the right to sell and distribute videocassette, DVD or other recordings."
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The lack of ability to use King Louie for fear of being embroiled in another legal battle led to some interesting pivots for Disney. On the cartoon show House of Mouse (2001-2003), a very similar-looking character named King Larry made an appearance. Still voiced by Jim Cummings, only this time he doesn't sound anything like Prima. This was Disney's workaround -- creating a "twin brother" for King Louie, who was basically the same character with a different name. King Louie would also be absent in the forgettable sequel The Jungle Book 2 (2003). But not before appearing as a younger version of himself in the ABC Network cartoon show Jungle Cubs (1996-1998), where he was voiced by Jason Marsden and Cree Summer.
Christopher Walken Voiced King Louie in Disney’s Live-Action Jungle Book
Maione passed away in 2013 at the age of 72, leaving Disney free to pursue the rights to King Louie once again. When production began on Disney's live-action reboot of the classic animated film, the studio had regained the ability to use the character. Only this time, he would be voiced by Christopher Walken. King Louie also appears as a different species of ape in the film. Director Jon Favreau chose to change Louie from an orangutan to a Gigantopithecus since the former are not native to India -- ignoring the fact that Gigantopithecus and humans technically never co-existed in the same timeline. But it does make for a stellar cinematic visual when Louie first appears on-screen.
As of 2024, rumors abound that Disney could still be considering producing yet another sequel to The Jungle Book. It might be one of the first Disney live-action remakes to receive a sequel. Seeing as Favreau's version ends differently than the animated movie, there might be more scope for the story to continue. As far back as 2016, The Hollywood Reporterannouncedthat Disney already had a sequel in mind, and with the financial success of The Jungle Book, it might still be on the docket.
With all of Disney's current projects, it looks like a second live-action The Jungle Book may have been put on the back burner. Regardless, should Disney choose to pick back up, fans could likely see the return of King Louie to the screen once again.
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