The twenty screenwriters mobilized to write the film had received very clear instructions from production: no human being was to appear in the original script. The adventures of Simba, lion cub betrayed by his uncle Scar, vile murderer of his father Musafa, therefore take place far from the gaze of men. In Bambi (1947), the film that inspired the plot of Lion Kingwe heard the hunters’ rifles killing the hero’s mother…
Simba, Pumbaa, Timon and the others
This time, no hunters, but reckless lions, treacherous hyenas, a friendly toucan, an original monkey… And, a real revolution at Disney, a warthog, named pump, who lets himself go noisily on screen, assumes this flatulence… and even has fun with it! By discovering this scene during a test screening, Jeffrey Katzenberg, then CEO of Walt Disney Pictures, was overcome with infectious laughter.
With his friend the meerkat Timon, Pumbaa formed such an irresistible duo that Disney studios dedicated a television series to them in 1995, in 85 episodes, broadcast on the CBS network. Animals are represented as sensitive beings, capable of feeling, like men, emotions and feelings. “If we chose to give the two main roles of Simba and Musafa to lions, it is not a coincidence”explains Timon and the others Peter Schneider, entertainment manager: “This is because their pyramidal social structures and family ties are very close to ours.”
An ode to Africa
The directors’ bet, Roger Allers et Rob Minkoff, was audacious, and above all unprecedented in the history of animated cinema: to build a feature film whose story takes place entirely in Africa. In order to recreate the most beautiful landscapes of this immense continent, the two men carried out, camera on the shoulder, six months of scouting in Ivory Coast and in the nature reserves of Kenya.
“This trip was a revelation, the fauna and flora were so rich”remembers Rob Minkoff, who then fell under the spell of the sumptuous natural sites he discovered. The two directors film the high plateaus, the dizzying waterfalls and the vast Kenyan plains, with their herds of wildebeest, magnificent shots which inspire the settings of Simba’s world. “We wanted Africa to give an epic dimension to our story“, explains Roger Allers. Mission accomplished!
A brilliant soundtrack
The adventures of Simba would undoubtedly not have known such a triumph without an original soundtrack that was poetic and lighter in turn. It was composed by Elton John (who performs Can You Feel the Love Tonight), the German musician Hans Zimmer and the English lyricist Tim Riceauthor of the legendary There are no complications. It is also for its brilliant music that the film won two Oscars in 1995.
The Lion King, is broadcast Wednesday January 1 at 9:10 p.m. on M6
Jean-Baptiste Drouet
