Scar (The Lion King) "handle[s] all of the dramatic heavy lifting." Even film critics who generally disliked the film tended to enjoy Scar's characterization and Irons's performance. Terrence Rafferty of "The New Yorker" wrote, "Among the celebrity voices on the soundtrack, two performances stand out," namely, "Jeremy Irons, as the villainous lion Scar" who "does an elegant, funny George Sanders impersonation." (Sanders himself had voiced Shere Khan for Disney in their 1967 version of "The Jungle Book"). Stephen Hunter of "The Baltimore Sun "described Irons's voice as "plummy-rich with rancid irony." Television Without Pitys Ethan Alter admitted to enjoying Scar, praising the character as
The Jungle Book (2016 film) use of a shadowy jungle figure in "Apocalypse Now" (1979). The cast was announced between March and August 2014, with Idris Elba being announced to voice Shere Khan during early stages and Bill Murray eventually confirmed as the voice of Baloo in August 2014. Between then, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, and Christopher Walken were confirmed to play Kaa, Bagheera, and King Louie. Favreau decided to cast Johansson to play Kaa, originally a male character, as he felt the original film was "a little too male-oriented." Favreau and Marks noticed the lack of female characters in the 1967 film version and