Tarzan 2016 : When History meets a story

Among the most astounding elements of the future David Yates movie is that the plot is based on anything but fantasy. The characters played by Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson really existed!

 In 1885, the king of Belgium Léopold II reigns over Congo with an iron hand. While he appears as an enlightened leader eager to bring civilization to Africans, in fact he makes them slaves, thanks to adventurers and unscrupulous henchmen, among themselves Captain Léon Rom (Waltz). The author Joseph Conrad (who spent 3 years in Congo during this time period) probably based his captain Kurtz character, from his Heart of Darkness novel (written in 1899, and which would become Apocalypse Now) on Rom himself. George Washington Williams (Jackson in the movie) is the man that exposed this genocide in 1890. This story was related in a book written in 1998 by Adam Hochschild, “King Leopold’s Ghost”, which will be seen held by Alexander Skargard on a picture taken during the shooting...

 http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427880687&sr=1-1&keywords=king+leopold%27s+ghost

 What’s more, those who have read the first Tarzan novel know perfectly well that it’s a similar situation to the one in Congo that brings Lord Greystoke and his wife to investigate. The circle seems perfect now. The historical events that inspired Burroughs for the beginning of his story have become the basis of the movie that will be released some 104 years later… All seems reunited to make the movie something quite unique. Here is the article that details the historical content:

 https://booksnfilm.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/what-are-christoph-waltz-and-samuel-l-jackson-doing-in-david-yates-new-tarzan-film/

 On the “story” front, we know that Djimon Hounsou will play chief MBonga, who the readers of the novel know what kind of grudge he could hold towards the man-ape. Jane is blonde, at last! There will be flashbacks about Tarzan’s origin, first with younger actors to portray Tarzan et Jane Porter, as well as actors for the Mangani, those man-ape that raised Tarzan, among them his adoptive mother, Kala, his enemy Kerchak and his ally Akut, all from the novel. Recently photos of leopard men have surfaced on the net, including the one below, without a doubt worthy adversaries for Tarzan, even if they appear later in the novel series. And we also know that the scenario of this Tarzan comes from the blending of two scripts, one which gave the story, and the other the characterization of Tarzan.

 Fun bit of trivia: Alexander Skardgard (Tarzan) and Taylor Kitsch (John Carter) played brothers in Battleship!

 There are still no pictures of the Lord of the Jungle himself, but it seems that the adaptation shows the best intentions towards History and towards Burroughs himself, for once. To be continued!