With Aaron Pierre, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and director Barry Jenkins…

There are certain moments in the history of cinema, and I’m talking specifically here about character deaths, that have disproportionately contributed to a sort of soft generational existential trauma. There was the horse x swamp fiasco in Never Ending Story; Jack’s stage door exit in Titanic; Bubba the shrimp guy’s farewell in Forest Gump; Wolverine’s bittersweet swan song in Logan; Marley annexing his half of Marley & Me; John “I’m tired boss” Coffey from The Green Mile; and the fate-spiralled fall of Fantine of in Les Miserables.

I probably should have issued a spoiler warning at some point but if you didn’t know before, you’ve joined the club now, let’s all heal together. But when it comes to tugging on those “gone too soon” heartstrings Disney is in a league of its own – Bambi’s mum, Tony Stark, Ellie from Up, and perhaps the greatest emotional betrayal of all – Mufasa in The Lion King.

And whilst those tears can’t be uncried, the House of Mouse has now written the most beautiful eulogy for our fallen king. Mufasa: The Lion King, is an origin story – a prequel that chronicles the life of Pride Rock’s dadding MVP. It’s a touching live-action tale of how a dynasty was forged, a Hamlet origin story with a tempestuous torrent of more emotional white water rafting. Rafiki is back, spitting straight philosophical facts. As are Timon and Pumbaa, who are spitting straight… well largely, gas. It’s the perfect family movie for the festive season, and a fitting prologue for one of Disney’s greatest ever characters.

Ahead of the release (Mufasa: The Lion King is out in cinemas across the UAE now, book: here), What’s On was invited to the lion’s den, a virtual press conference with key members from the cast and production crew. Here’s what they had to say:

Featured talent: Aaron Pierre, the voice of Mufasa; Kelvin Harrison Jr. the voice of Taka; Tiffany Boone, the voice of Sarabi. And we’ve got Seth Rogen as the voice of Pumbaa and Billy Eichner as the voice of Timon; the author of the films original songs, Lin-Manuel Miranda; and director Barry Jenkins.

What’s On asked director Barry Jenkins: What’s the most important message you hope people take out of this film?

Barry: I love answering this question, but Lin has the best answer. Please speak for me, my friend.

Lin-Manuel: I think for me, you know, I’ve got two kids and they’re obsessed with who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy, like most kids. Like, they want to understand the world. And what this movie leaves you with is to be able to have a conversation with nuance of, no one’s born a good guy, no one’s born a bad guy.

We are good choices and bad choices. Sometimes our experiences lead us to make the wrong choices. We are good and bad impulses, and no one’s just good or bad. And I think to be able to have that kind of conversation with your kids is so joyous, when a work of art allows that conversation, where you can sort of use these characters as a way to talk about the real world. And I think this movie does that beautifully.

Barry: Can I follow that up? The reason why I love kicking that answer to Lin is because I don’t have any children, but I did wanna make a film that parents could go and see with their kids. And when he speaks about this, he’s not speaking from here. He’s speaking from here, you know? As a parent of young boys. That’s why I always kick that answer to you.  My friend, I see that you’re always trying to do something with the work you create, this language you put into the world. And you hope other people can take that language and use it in service of their lives. And every time you answer that question, my friend, is like you proving that theorem.

Aaron Pierre on why Mufasa is such a beloved figure around the world:

I think, at least for me, and I think this is a shared thing, my introduction to James Earl Jones’s original portrayal of Mufasa, it just felt like his voice was so warm. It was so comforting. It was full of strength, clarity. And I think that’s what I connected to the first time that I ever engaged with it.

I think the reason the character is so beloved is because he, I think he radiated an essence of love and togetherness and unity. And I think we all crave that in our own respective lives and in our own personal communities and in our global community. But I think for me, you know, I was certainly very nervous to, you know, contribute in a small way to the beautiful legacy that is Mufasa that the great James Earl Jones originated and hopefully I was able to serve that in a small way.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. on bringing Taka (SPOILER ALERT: AKA Scar) to life:

I think the biggest thing was just not to judge him. I enjoyed him so much in the original version. And I Page 3 of 22 was like, he’s so playful, he’s so lively. I was like all those characteristics still remain true in this. And my first conversation with Barry, he was like just stay present, stay in the moment with Taka and allow his instincts and his natural tendencies and his love for life and people and community to shine through. And I just kinda played it with that, and then you, you know, throw in a nice voice and you just see what happens.

Tiffany Boone, on the similarities between herself and her character Sarabi:

Yeah, I mean, I connected with her right away when I was reading the sides. I didn’t know I was auditioning for Sarabi. They had a different name for her, so I was just like who’s this cool chick who’s like confident and a little sassy? And I know a lot of times when we will be recording, Barry would be like put in that sassiness. Put in that fire. And so, I think that’s just naturally in me. And so, I related to her kind of like looking for her tribe and looking for a place, but trying to be tough at the same time, where right behind the surface there’s, like, a lot of vulnerability, and I think that’s how I am. And so, it was fun to play a character that I connected with so much.

Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner on their role as the comic relief:

Seth: You know, I think they’re kinda outcasts. They have a strong bond. They have a good friendship. I think they are very relatable in many ways. I think in a, you know, in a movie that, you know, is really about, you know, a lot of heroic acts and people really putting themselves out there in spectacular ways, I really relate to the two guys who are just sitting around on the sidelines joking around.

I think, you now, when I was a kid and saw, you know, the original, yeah, like I always really gravitated to Timon and Pumbaa. I, for sure, related to, yeah, to like the loser who farts more than anybody. And Page 5 of 22 so, I think they’re relatable for their own reasons. And, yeah, to me as a kid, I always just thought they were really funny also. And there’s very heavy themes in this film, you know, and so, I think it’s nice and it’s amazing how well Barry kinda modulated, like, you know, the heaviness and the lightness and was really fun to get to participate in that.

Billy: We are given a shocking, dangerous amount of leeway. Considering the epic scale of this film and the fact that it plays all over the world, the fact that they bring Seth and I in and we get to riff so much. And even more surprisingly, the amount of that that ends up in this Disney family spectacular is truly stunning.

And it’s really fun. Seth and I, of course, got to do the 2019 version with Jon Favreau, and so, we had the advantage of having that time to figure out what our version of the characters were, which was pretty challenging. At the beginning, when we started that process, we were walking in incredible, you know, historic, iconic footsteps with Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella and the characters they created. Of course they’re the OGs, so coming into this one, I think we felt at least a little more confident knowing what we had done in the first one. But yeah, we improvise an insane amount.

Lin-Manuel on the music of Mufasa:

Oh man. I mean, The Lion King is, that original ’94 soundtrack is an immortal soundtrack. It’s like no skips from Elton John and Tim Rice, and then Hans Zimmer’s incredible score. But I, you know, if it had just been that first movie, I think I would have been very intimidated, but there’s been an entire world of Lion King music. There is the incredible Broadway musical. It’s one of the longest running musicals on Broadway.

There’s Beyonce’s album, The Gift, which sort of expanded the vocabulary of what a Lion King song could sound like. So, it felt like just this amazing world to play in. And then my secret weapon was Lebo M., who is the first voice you hear on that original film. I knew his choral arrangements and his incredible choir were going to raise whatever I wrote to the next level. And working with him and Mark Mancina, who I worked with on Moana, I knew I had just like incredible talent in my corner that would help us get to that Lion King level.

But, you know, it’s really 90 percent of it was in the script. And Jeff took such care. Sometimes you get a script and they go, we wanna make this a musical, and you read it and you go where? But this, there was such care taken to make space for the music to carry the ball and carry the emotional real estate. I’m amazed at some of the things music got to do in this movie. And most of them were there to the point where most of the song titles were actually began as lines of dialogue reference reading that script.

The first time I read the script and I read Taka say, you know, I have a secret, I always wanted a brother and he like makes a sacrifice so that he could have a brother, I had that first lump in my throat and I was like that’s a song title. And that’s our way of learning all about them. And then I think there was one number that wasn’t in the script that I pitched to Barry, which was we had this incredible villain in Kiros, voices by Mads Mikkelsen, and I was like to have Mads as your villain and not make him sing in a musical is malpractice. So, please let me write him a big old tune, and I’m hearing dance hall and I know those are two different tastes, but I swear they’re gonna taste great together.

Mufasa: The Lion King is out in cinemas across the UAE now, book: here

Images: Provided