Kenyan Actress and Oscar winner, Lupita Nyong’o, said she was inspired by her mother for her role as mother wolf Raksha in ‘The Jungle Book’.
Lupita Nyong’o and Mum
She recently did an interview with Ebony Magazine and when asked where she got the strong maternal instinct for her role as motherwolf Raksha in the fantasyfilm, 33-year-old Lupita admits the motherhood instinct in her is “very much alive”.
“I think my mother had a lot to do with what inspired me. She’s my example and she’s a very good mother. I asked myself a lot of questions about what it would be like to lose one of my own; although I’m not a mother myself I do love children.” She said.
She added, “When I was 12, I preferred to stay indoors and babysit my cousins rather than go outside and play. So there’s that part of me that’s very much alive. I gravitate toward children. So yes, my mother definitely is who inspired me.”
Meanwhile, Lupita – who performed her first voiceover role in ‘The Jungle Book’ – also revealed she likes to try new things when it comes to acting.
According to Lupita, her draw to this film: “I like to try out new things – ‘Star Wars’ was my first attempt at doing motion capture and this is my first voiceover role. I was attracted to it because Raksha is like the eternal mother. And she chooses to take care of this creature who is not one of her own.
“I remember I did a session, a voice over, really early on and then a few months later Jon called me in again but this time he had Neel’s [Sethi, who portrays Mowgli] performance captured and that really grounded the mother-son relationship for me to see the vulnerability of this boy and the love that he had for the wolf – it only made my love for him grow even more. And it’s such a beautiful image to see these two very different creatures have this very real bond.”
‘The Jungle Book ‘, animated, live action adventure, with its cutting-edge and mind-blowing technology, also features Idris Elba as the terrifying Shere Khan the Tiger. The Jungle Book comes to life in theaters on April 15.
