The Beatles ‘turned down’ Disney movie appearance – ‘Get Elvis instead!’ | Films | Entertainment
In 1967 The Beatles were one of the biggest musical acts of all time. Because of this, the Fab Four were being approached for a number of projects, including TV shows, films, event appearances and sponsorships. Meanwhile, the 1960s were also a great time for the Disney corporation, who were releasing some timeless animated films that have gone down as classics.
In 1961 Disney released One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and just two years later, in 1963, they released The Sword in the Stone, both of which gained massive critical acclaim. Just a few years later, in 1967, the company started work on an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, learned that the House of Mouse was looking for a musical act to portray a group of singing vultures, and was instantly interested in his group taking the roles.
Unfortunately, the band were not as excited by the notion.
Despite Disney also being interested in having The Beatles in The Jungle Book, Epstein was forced to turn it down. John Lennon instantly “vetoed” the idea. For some reason, he was not interested in being a part of the animated adventure movie. Instead, he told Epstein to tell Disney to “get Elvis instead”.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the rest of the band were struck with scheduling conflicts at the same time.
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While the four birds were originally going to be a rock group, they were later changed into a barbershop quartet. In the final cut of the film, the vultures sing That’s What Friends Are For to Mowgli without any hint of Beatles-era music in it.
The characters were ultimately played by J. Pat O’Malley, Digby Wolfe, Lord Tim Hudson, and Chat Stuart.
Years later, in 2016 Jon Favreau directed a remake of the film for Disney and Disney Plus. And during the promotion for the movie he mentioned The Beatles’ infamous exit of the film. And once again, the Fab Four were not available for the sequel.
Favreau said at the time: “We don’t have the Beatle-vultures. I did talk about trying to get Paul and Ringo into the film, because they wanted The Beatles for the original, but I couldn’t get them. We came to the idea too late.” But he did give some hope to Beatles and Jungle Book fans alike.
He added: “Maybe if there’s a sequel…”
The Jungle Book and its remake are both available to watch on Disney Plus.
