Above: Mufasa
(James Earl Jones) and
Simba (Donald Glover)
hanging with Zazu the
hornbill (John Oliver).
“We learned a lot from The Jungle
Book on that,” says Favreau. In that film,
he only kept two numbers, ‘I Wanna Be
Like You’ and ‘Bare Necessities’, and
didn’t push too far in the animals’
performance. Singing was fine; dancing
was not. “‘Just Can’t Wait To Be King’
was a challenge,” he says. “You don’t
want to do the whole Busby Berkeley
thing with the crazy colours.”
The solution was to think about what
the song and its mood were conveying.
Performed by the young Simba, it’s all
about the excitement he feels knowing
that ‘everything the light touches will one
day be his’. “We thought, you’re seeing
this song through the eyes of cubs,” says
Favreau, “so you use the animals as sets.
Running past giraffe legs you can get
a really cool, graphic stylised look... And
then you have colourful animals like
zebra and flamingos.” In other words, you
let nature provide the spectacle for you.THE ONE THING YOU
DON’T CHANGE
When it came to casting, Favreau chose
predominantly black actors for the lead
roles. That choice was informed in part by
watching the stage production, which
“much more authentically embraced the
African influences on the story,” says
Favreau. “Also, the time we live in, this felt
like the right way to go and the more
appropriate cast for this project.”
As well as Glover, Beyoncé and
Ejiofor, the film has JD McCrary (Little)
as young Simba, Shahadi Wright Joseph
(Us) as young Nala and Alfre Woodard
(Luke Cage) as Sarabi. “It was a joy to be
part of,” says Woodard. “You feel like
you’re with family with these characters.”
There was one role Favreau did not
— would not — recast. When it came to
Mufasa, Favreau could not imagine
anyone but the original Mufasa: James
Earl Jones. “I see it as carrying the legacy
across,” says Favreau. “Just hearing him
say the lines is really moving and surreal.”
The 25 years since the original, in their
way, mean that Earl Jones is playing a
subtly different Mufasa. “The timbre of his
voice has changed,” says Favreau. “That
served the role well because he sounds like
a king who’s ruled for a long time.” The
vocal contrast also acts as a way of
representing the relationship between the
old and new films, both equally proud,
sharing the telling of a tale that will no
doubt be told in new ways in years to come.
“He sounds,” says Favreau, “like
someone passing the torch from one
generation to the next.”THE LION KING IS IN CINEMAS FROM 17 JULYflavour that reflects their different comedy
backgrounds. “[Lane and Sabella] were
more vaudeville-inspired, whereas we’re
more improv-inspired.”THE MUSIC
The music’s one of the easiest elements of
the new Lion King. Favreau has Beyoncé
and Donald Glover, aka Childish
Gambino, voicing and singing his lead
roles, Simba and Nala. He already knows
his songs, written by Tim Rice and Elton
John, are hits (Rice, John and Beyoncé will
work on a new song for the end credits).
And Han Zimmer returns to re-record his
Oscar-winning score. Still, there was one
area that caused Favreau big headaches.
Some of The Lion King’s biggest songs
— ‘Circle Of Life’, ‘Can You Feel The
Love Tonight?’ — are not sung on screen.
Three, however — ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be
King’, ‘Be Prepared’ and ‘Hakuna Matata’
— are big production numbers in the
original. ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’, in
particular, is a highly stylised performance
with abstract animals and other sundry
wildlife dancing in formation. Your
‘realistic’ presentation really falls apart if
your photo-real rhinos suddenly start
twerking across the savannah.