Live-Action Jungle Book Actors Pose With Animals They Play

The new live-action Jungle Book movie comes out in April and to promote the film, Disney has now released a series of shots that show actors posing with the animals they play in the picture.

Included in the gallery are pictures of Idris Elba (bengal tiger Shere Khan), Lupita Nyong'o (mother wolf Raksha), Scarlett Johansson (massive, hypnotizing python Kaa), Christopher Walken (12-foot tall ape King Louie), Ben Kingsley (the panther Bagheera), and Giancarlo Esposito (alpha male wolf Akela).

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Bill Murray plays the lovable, happy-go-lucky bear Baloo, but he is sadly not included in this gallery.

Nyong'o's character Raksha takes in Mowgli after is he abandoned in the jungle as a child.

"She is the protector, the eternal mother," she said in a statement. "The word Raksha actually means protection in Hindi. I felt really connected to that, wanting to protect a son that isn't originally hers but one she's taken for her own."

Head to Disney's full Facebook gallery to see further character descriptions and quotes from the actors. The Jungle Book opens in theaters on April 15, 2016. The latest TV spot is embedded below.

The film is directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Elf) and is based on the Rudyard Kipling story about an orphan boy Mowgli (played by Neel Sethi in the new movie) who is raised in the jungle by animals.