Skip to main content

Watch Bill Murray sing The Bare Necessities with his Jungle Book co-star

Walt Disney Pictures’ upcoming film The Jungle Book is a live-action remake of the 1967 animated classic about a human boy raised in the jungles of India by a host of colorful animals, and the film has an impressive cast of actors providing the voices of the tigers, bears, and other creatures that inhabit the story — including Bill Murray as the fun-loving bear named Baloo.

During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live alongside his young co-star in The Jungle Book, Neel Sethi, Murray flexed his singing muscles for a rendition of Baloo’s memorable musical number from the 1967 film: “The Bare Necessities.” Not only did the pair sing their way through the iconic ditty, but they were accompanied by a few backup dancers wearing bear costumes — all in keeping with the song’s playful theme.

Recommended Videos

Directed by Favreau, The Jungle Book is inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s famous novel of the same name that was first published in 1893. The script for the film was penned by Justin Marks (RewindStreet Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li).

While it’s unknown whether Murray’s Baloo and Mowgli, the human boy played by Sethi, will actually sing “The Bare Necessities” in the film, the duo certainly seemed well-versed (pun totally intended) in the song for their talk show appearance. The original version of the song was written by Terry Gilkyson and performed by actors Phil Harris as Baloo and Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli.

Along with Murray as Baloo and Sethi as Mowgli, the film features Scarlett Johansson as the hypnotizing python Kaa, Idris Elba as the terrifying tiger Shere Khan, Christopher Walken as the gigantic orangutan lord King Louie, Giancarlo Esposito as Mowgli’s adoptive wolf-father Akela, Lupita Nyong’o as Mowgli’s adoptive mother Raksha, and Ben Kingsley as the stern panther Bagheera.

The Jungle Book hits theaters April 15.

Rick Marshall
Former Contributing Editor, Entertainment
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
Mia Goth cast opposite Ryan Gosling in Star Wars: Starfighter
Mia Goth sits behind a microphone with the Star Wars logo on the right.

Welcome to the Star Wars universe, Mia Goth.

Per The InSneider newsletter, Goth has been cast in Star Wars: Starfighter. Goth joins Ryan Gosling in the upcoming space opera from director Shawn Levy.

Read more
Etoile canceled after one season at Amazon, despite two-season order
Luke Kirby resting his head on his arms, which are resting on a table, in a scene from Etoile.

Etoile has danced its last dance. The Amazon Prime Video series from Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has been canceled after one season, in spite of the fact that it was initially given a two-season order by Amazon back in 2023, per Variety.

The news of the show's cancellation comes roughly six weeks after the series first premiered on Amazon in mid-April and garnered generally positive reviews. The show follows two struggling dance companies in New York and Paris who decide to switch their principal dancers in the hopes of saving their companies.

Read more
Martin Scorsese says he can no longer watch any movies in theaters
Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino star in The Irishman, directed by Martin Scorsese.

Few directors have spent more time advocating for movies and movie theaters over the course of their careers than Martin Scorsese. In a recent interview with film critic Peter Travers, Scorsese said that he can no longer stand watching movies in theaters, and that includes his own films.

“I asked the maestro why he doesn’t see movies in theatres any more and he went all raging bull about audiences who babble on phones during the movie, leave to order snacks and vats of soda, and keep up a noise level loud enough to drown out the actors," Travers said, per The Guardian.

Read more