Five years ago, Disney recreated the cartoon “The Lion King” (released in 1994) in computer-generated images with stunning photorealistic rendering and raked in more than a billion and a half dollars at the box office. The musical film chronicled little Simba’s acceptance of his destiny as monarch after the death of his beloved father.
“Mufasa: The Lion King”, in theaters on December 18, 2024, looks back on the patriarch’s childhood and his complicated relationship with the man who will become his assassin, the perfidious Scar. Narrated in the form of flashbacks by the old mandrill Rafiki to the young lioness Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, the story reveals surprises. An orphaned lion cub, Mufasa is saved from drowning by Taka, a mischievous young lion heir to a royal lineage. Adopted by the young prince’s family, Mufasa befriends him and becomes a surrogate brother. Until the leadership qualities of the courageous and honorable Mufasa eclipse the timid Taka who later takes the name Scar.
“The idea that Mufasa is not heir to a royal lineage is one of the reasons that pushed me to make this film. The relationship between nature and nurture is also something that immediately spoke to me in the script,” tells us director Barry Jenkins, Oscar winner for “Moonlight”. “Mufasa is raised by his adoptive mother who teaches him that all animals are precious, while Taka’s father suggests to his son that he has all the rights and that duplicity is a way to rule. So one character ends up giving the best of himself and the other the worst.”
In the voice cast in the original version, we notably find Beyoncé as the lioness Nala. Barry Jenkins called on Blue Ivy Carter to lend her voice to Kiara, Nala’s daughter. The 45-year-old American filmmaker swears that the famous 43-year-old singer had nothing to do with giving the role to his 12-year-old daughter. “A friend of mine, Matthew Cherry, made a short film, “Hair Love,” which won an Oscar a few years ago. Blue Ivy lent her voice to the audio version of the illustrated book that accompanied the film. When I listened to her, I found that the quality of her voice suited the role of Kiara who represents all the children in the audience. She auditioned and was great.”
When asked if his collaboration with Beyoncé represented something special for him, he replied in the negative. “When you talk about Beyoncé, people assume that working with her must be special, but she made sure that wasn’t the case,” he says. Blue Ivy and Beyoncé often recorded their vocals on the same days even though they had very few scenes together. Beyoncé would do her job and then step aside. It was touching to see her step aside for Blue Ivy. When your mother means everything to you, it can be intimidating and Beyoncé did everything she could to avoid that.”
Find out who lends their voice in the French version of the film
Among the well-known artists who lend their voice to the heroes of the savannah in “Mufasa: The Lion King”, we find the actor Tahar Rahim for the voice of Mufasa (adult), the comedians Jamel Debbouze and Alban Ivanov who respectively dub the meerkat winnower Timon and the flatulent warthog Pumbaa, as well as the actor Rayane Bensetti for the voice of Simba and the singer revealed in “The Voice” Anne Sila for that of Nala.
