his daughter, Jane. In addition to this, Kerchak was re-characterized from a savage silverback into the protector of the gorilla tribe. Also the Mangani, the apes that raised Tarzan in the original book were changed and portrayed as gorillas which were called Bolgani in the original story. Originally Sabor was portrayed as a lioness but was changed to a leopard due to the fact the film takes place in the jungle a place where leopards hunt rather than lions who roam in open grasslands, also leopards in the original novel where called Sheeta. In January 1997, husband-and-wife screenwriting duo Bob Tzudiker and Noni White were hired to help refocus and add humor to the script as a way to balance the emotional weight of the film. Comedy writer Dave Reynolds was also brought on to write humorous dialogue for the film. "I was initially hired on for six weeks of rewriting and punch-up", Reynolds said, "A year and a half later, I finished. Either they liked my work, or I was very bad at time management." One challenge the writers faced was how Tarzan should learn about his past. "When Kala takes Tarzan back to the tree house, she is essentially telling him that he was adopted", Bonnie Arnold, the producer for Tarzan, said, "This is necessitated by him encountering humans and recognizing he is one of them." As a way to explore the feelings in that scene, Arnold brought in adoptive parents to talk with the story team. Another issue was the inherent and overt racism in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan. The writers consciously chose to not include any African characters in order to avoid this topic. Casting Brendan Fraser auditioned twice for the title character before portraying the lead role in George of the Jungle (1997). Tony Goldwyn auditioned for the title role as well, and according to co-director Kevin Lima, Goldwyn landed it because of "the animal sense" in his readings, along with some "killer baboon imitations". For the signature Tarzan yell, Lima and Buck desired the traditional yell, although Goldwyn faced difficulties with providing the yell stating, "It's really hard to do, physically." His co-star Brian Blessed who does the voice of Clayton in the film ultimately provided the yell. Terk was originally written as a male gorilla, but following Rosie O'Donnell's audition, Terk was re-characterized as a female. Furthermore, Woody Allen was initially