What Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale, and other stars of Netflix's 'Mowgli' looked like before CGI

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Most of the actors in "Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle" did motion capture for their roles.

The stars include Christian Bale as Bagheera, a black panther, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan, a Bengal tiger.

Netflix released a short behind-the-scenes video showing what the cast looked like in their motion capture gear.

Here's what they looked like before CGI transformed them into jungle creatures. Andy Serkis directed the movie and played Baloo the bear.

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Serkis is well-known for his performance capture work in roles such as Gollum for "The Lord of the Rings" movies and as Snoke in the newest "Star Wars" trilogy.

"It was absolutely essential that we would use performance capture to create the animals," Serkis said in the video short.

His son Louis Ashbourne Serkis played Bhoot.

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Louis is following in his dad's footsteps.

Benedict Cumberbatch was Shere Khan

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Cumberbatch did motion capture to play Smaug in "The Hobbit" series.

See the rest of the story at Business InsiderSee Also:7 great movies you can watch on Netflix this weekendNetflix's 'Mowgli' is a gritty, nuanced, but largely unnecessary version of the beloved 'Jungle Book' storyA 101-year-old man credits his longevity to his daily Coors Light. Here's what 5 other centenarians had to say about their secret to a long life and whether they're backed by science.

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