Mufasa: The Lion King has message 'the world needs to hear now', say cast

“Be not afraid of greatness,” William Shakespeare wrote in his play Twelfth Night. “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”

Centuries later, those words echo clearly through the world of Disney’s The Lion King. Starting with the first film released in 1994, its animated universe of African animals has become an indelible part of global culture, telling a powerful story that has taught each generation what greatness truly means – and how to overcome one’s fear of it.

The original film, inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, featured a young lion named Simba born to become the great king of the pride lands, who rises above self-doubt to achieve his destiny. Mufasa: The Lion King, its prequel now in cinemas across the Middle East, follows an orphaned lion who, through the strength of his character and the support of his found family, one day will become the greatest king of all.

“What’s most heartening to me about this film is the message of inclusion, and it’s a message I think worldwide we need to hear right now,” says Anika Noni Rose, who plays Mufasa’s mother Afia. “It’s saying, you can find your way to new family. And it’s OK to let somebody in who is not like you or of your blood or kin or clan. I think that’s beautiful and necessary.”

Behind the scenes, Aaron Pierre, who voices Mufasa in the film, had his own struggles with taking on the weight of the character. After all, when we first met Mufasa in the original movie, he was fully formed, voiced by the late James Earl Jones. Pierre’s version is still young, struggling to believe he is worthy of anything beyond his humble circumstances.

“I always set the objective of perfection for myself, knowing that I cannot ever achieve that. That keeps me constantly driving to discover who the character is – and I don’t know if I ever totally landed on the truth and authenticity of this character,” says Pierre.

“But when our director, Barry Jenkins, shared with me that he thought I had discovered a rhythm, I knew I was on a positive path, and I explored this to the best of my ability."

Jenkins, whose film Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2017, is himself a massive fan of the original, particularly admiring how the film grapples with weighty themes of trauma and loss, and pulls no punches in doing so.

He wasn’t the only one. Tiffany Boone, who plays Sarabi, the young lion who will one day become Mufasa’s wife, wanted to be involved particularly because of how the first film helped her process a tragedy in her own life.

“I lost my father at a really young age,” says Boone. “So I feel like The Lion King taught me a lot about grief and how to move on through grief, and how you can find family in a lot of different places and become part of a community. I think everyone who has watched it has been touched by it.”

“And because this is a Barry Jenkins film, you’re going to be touched by Mufasa. You’re going to feel something. You might even cry. And we were committed to doing justice to that vision."

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who plays the villain Kiros, was particularly impressed by how well Jenkins transitioned into the world of Disney animation.

“I would have never guessed this was his first animated film, because he was so on top of every part of the process,” says Mikkelsen.

“He’s tasked with bringing us all in a boat and sailing us in the same direction, without a lot of tools, as we’re all in separate recording booths. And he was masterful at that. He kept pushing me to be a little bigger, to give a little more. He would say: ‘Remember, this is larger than life.'"

And while his dramatic chops as a filmmaker did much to push Mufasa to similar emotional heights, what surprised some of its cast was how attuned he was to the humour of its world as well.

“Barry is a loud laugher – and even if you’re not being funny, that’s what you want to hear,” says Billy Eichner, who plays Timon. Seth Rogen, who plays Pumbaa, adds: “I don’t care if you’re faking it. It’s what we need.”

Eichner adds: “He’s such a great audience and encouraged us to keep improvising. A large percentage of that is what ended up in the movie for Timon and Pumbaa specifically. And he knew how to choose the right moments. I don’t even recall what we said, so I’m blown away that he was able to whittle it down to something that made sense.”

The comedy duo, who also appeared in the roles in the blockbuster 2019 remake of the 1994 original, did have one disappointment with the project, however. “We were begging to sing,” says Eichner.

“They just didn’t write us a song this time,” adds Rogen. ”Lin-Manuel Miranda looked at the first one and thought, everyone loves these guys. Hakuna Matata is a hit. Let’s give them no songs. And you can already feel people’s anger. People are devastated – and by people, I mean us.”

It’s easy to understand their disappointment. In total, Miranda, who became a global star after his 2015 musical Hamilton became a phenomenon, contributed seven original songs to the film, his third Disney animation project following Moana (2016) and Encanto (2021).

“I was really honoured to have a song,” says Rose, who worked with Miranda in an early staging of Hamilton. “He’s just so very talented, and the songs are beautiful. They take you on a journey all by themselves.”

And while this is a prequel, it doesn’t mean that there are no more stories to tell from here. Boone says: “Someone the other day said to me: ‘The Lion Queen’. And I would say – yes please! Someone tell Disney!’

Mufasa: The Lion King is in cinemas now across the Middle East