Oscar winner Ben Kingsley has told RTÉ TEN that he feels his 12-year-old Jungle Book co-star Neel Sethi deserves to be in the running for next year's Academy Awards after delivering a "technically amazing" performance in the new Disney movie.
While director Jon Favreau's reimagining of the 1967 animated classic features an all-star voice cast of Kingsley, Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong'o and Scarlett Johansson, first-time actor Sethi is the only human onscreen during the movie, with all the animals created through special effects.
"Onscreen, he has the most wonderful rapport with those animals, as if he can truly reach out and stroke them or run from them," said Kingsley, who voices the panther, Bagheera.
"It's an absolutely beautiful performance, which when the time comes for him to be judged by those in charge of judging... How the hell do you categorise that performance? It certainly crossed my mind that it's going to be quite challenging."
Ben Kingsley praises Neel Sethi's rapport with the animals onscreen
"And also," the Gandhi star continued, "it's going to be very difficult to ignore a great performance. And it is a great performance: a beautiful, moving, wonderful, witty performance."
Ben Kingsley hopes Neel Sethi will be in running for an Oscar
Kingsley's praise of the youngster was echoed by director Favreau, who cast Sethi as Mowgli after 2,000 hopefuls worldwide had auditioned for the role.
"I was worried I was liking him as much as I was because I was getting desperate - we were getting a little scared!" said Favreau of the search.
"Our kid came in because he got a flyer - a flyer at the Indian dance school he took classes at. They handed it to his dad and his dad put him on tape. The kid had never auditioned before."
Favreau told TEN he had "caught a diamond in the rough" when his star walked through the door.
"He looked like the kid from the [1967 animated film] to me, he moved like him. But he had this tremendous confidence - he wasn't scared at all. It wasn't important to him; it [just] seemed like a fun time."
Favreau found "a diamond in the rough" with Sethi
As for Sethi himself, he's still taking it all in his stride, telling TEN that the highlight of the audition day for him was the hotdog afterwards. Two hours after chowing down, however, the phone started ringing at home, and two weeks later he was filming with Favreau in Los Angeles.
With characteristic understatement, he described working with the Iron Man director, Kingsley and Murray as "a lot of fun". "I got to meet everyone except Idris Elba [who voices tiger villain Shere Khan]. I think I should get to meet my arch-nemesis," he laughed.
That's a rendezvous for awards season, then.
The Jungle Book is in cinemas from Friday, April 15.
