Casting is underway for Disney’s follow-up to their highest-grossing live-action/CGI remake of The Lion King, released in 2019. Now, thanks to an industry insider we have some new information on the film.
Thanks to Daniel Richtman, he has revealed a new production grid that features two familiar characters and several new characters.
The studio is currently casting for actors to play the roles of young Scar and Mufasa. For both of these characters, the studio is looking for young actors to play the characters between the ages of 8 and 13. The younger versions of these classic characters will lead the film that is said to be a sequel that will also explore the origin of Mufasa, which this casting breakdown only confirms.
Disney is also looking to cast actors for brand new characters not shown in the previous incarnations of the various Lion King films. The characters are as follows, Adah, Horatio, Elijah, Celia, Kaliban, Cardi (no, not B.), and Zola. The grid states they are looking for a mix of American and British accents for the role, but provide no additional information on the characters.
Surely Rafiki and Sarabi will also have roles (however small).
Listening to most often lately:
Ariana Grande ~ "we can't be friends (wait for your love)"
Ariana Grande ~ "imperfect for you"
Kacey Musgraves ~ "The Architect"
those are some very non-African sounding names...also they want English accents?
also I guess no more hyenas...why do they always leave out the hyenas in the sequel?
Disney's Divinity wrote:Surely Rafiki and Sarabi will also have roles (however small).
blackcauldron85 wrote:^ Maybe Zazu, too.
Yes, they must be in it too.
unprincess wrote:those are some very non-African sounding names...also they want English accents?
also I guess no more hyenas...why do they always leave out the hyenas in the sequel?
You're right; some of those names are not very African. That's strange. As for the English accents, Zazu and Scar were voiced by English actors in both the animated film and the remake, so there's some precedent to that. And some of the new characters could by hyenas, couldn't they?
Sotiris wrote:I still don't understand whether this is going to be a proper prequel or a sequel with some flashback sequences.
It could be both, just like the second Mamma Mia movie. That movie was pretty evenly split in the middle, half of it was a prequel about Sophie's mother and her possible fathers, and the other half was set 10 years after the first movie. It worked pretty well for that movie.
Pierre — who recently teamed up with Jenkins on Amazon series The Underground Railroad — will play Mufasa while Harrison Jr. is playing Taka. Additional casting is in process with plenty of big names likely.
Interesting that they're re-using the name Taka for Scar. That was also Scar's real name in one of those old children's prequel books (The Lion Guard recently gave him a different real name). I think it's cool that they're using an older, already existing name instead of making up their own. It shows that they've done their research.
supertalies wrote:I think it's cool that they're using an older, already existing name instead of making up their own.
I would have preferred they chose a different name given the remake is its own, separate canon. I don't like the intermingling of different universes and continuities.
supertalies wrote:It shows that they've done their research.
If by doing their research, you mean checking the wiki entry for Scar, then sure! It really doesn't take a lot to find that out.
When this was first announced by Disney, they said Hans Zimmer would also work on the music. What happened?
Hans Zimmer (whose long association with “The Lion King” goes back to the 1994 original), Pharrell Williams and Nicholas Britell will deliver the music.
The film is directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight," "The Underground Railroad") and will utilize the same CGI technology that Favreau used. It's the story of who Mufasa was before he took over the Pridelands. Kelvin Harrison Jr. ("The Trial of the Chicago 7") will play the young lion Taka, who later takes the name Scar. Aaron Pierre ("The Underground Railroad") will play the young version of Mufasa, the father of Simba that we met in "The Lion King."
Jenkins introduced the panel by saying that this is the story of how Mufasa rose to royalty. He was an orphaned lion cub who had to figure out the world all by himself. We'll learn about his journey to find his place in the Circle of Life. Jenkins told the crowd that he felt like he had to make this film after watching the original one over and over again with his nephews.
Here's what was shown at the panel
The footage begins with a shot of mountains in glowing sunlight. We see the familiar mandrill Rafiki, the Shaman of the Pride Lands, with glowing orbs. We move into the orbs as we head into a rocky desert area. Rafiki tells us that this is where a lion was born with no noble blood in his veins. This is a lion who would change our lives forever.
Then the rain pours in and floods the place, washing away the baby Mufasa away. The poor little guy ends up in a sort of marshland, floating on a log. He's not alone, though. He meets some other lions and says, "Hello, what's your name?"
The footage doesn't leave out some of our favorite characters from the first film, though. They managed to work Timon and Pumbaa into the story as bookends. They say, "So wait, you're telling the story without us?"
Mufasa: The Lion King is a clever title for this. It's the best way they could've sold a prequel.
Listening to most often lately:
Ariana Grande ~ "we can't be friends (wait for your love)"
Ariana Grande ~ "imperfect for you"
Kacey Musgraves ~ "The Architect"
I don't like it when the subtitle is in the front instead of the end, no matter the reason. They tried to do it before with Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, but thankfully that was changed. They should have called it "The Lion King: Mufasa" or even just "Mufasa".
The narrative device of this being a story Rafiki, Timon and Pumbaa tell, as well as the back and forth between past and present, sounds something out of a direct-to-video sequel. I've read that this story is being told to a cub, but it wasn't specified if it was Simba's offspring or not.
The reason it works for me is because it sounds like a character's title itself, so there might as well be a comma there rather than a colon. For example--Maleficent, Mistress of All Evil. She is the mistress of all evil, at least that's what the character said about herself in the original film, much like Mufasa is a lion king.
Listening to most often lately:
Ariana Grande ~ "we can't be friends (wait for your love)"
Ariana Grande ~ "imperfect for you"
Kacey Musgraves ~ "The Architect"
It really doesn't take a lot to find that out.
