The Incredible Cast of The Lion King

By Ella Barone

All new, Disney’s The Lion King lives up to all of the hype around it. The film is beautifully composed with jaw-dropping performances from actors and singers like Donald Glover, Beyonce, Seth Rogan, Billy Eichner and more. Recently I had the opportunity to listen to some of these talented people at the 2019 press junket that took place in Los Angeles. The cast that was there included, Donald Glover (Simba), Seth Rogan (Pumba), Billy Eichner (Timon), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Scar), Alfre Woodard (Sarabi), Keegan-Michael Key (Kamari), Florence Kasumba (Shenzi), Eric Andre (Azizi), John Kani (Rafiki), JD McCrary (Young Simba), Shahadi Wright Joseph (Young Nala), Director Jon Favreau, Composer Hans Zimmer, and Lebo M.

We were treated to a very special performance of “The Circle of Life” before the start of the junket. Once everyone took their seats on stage, the moderator opened with a question directed at Jon Favreau. She asked him what he figured out when making the movie Jungle Book and how it helped him with this film. Favreau answered by telling her and the audience that, “these are handmade films. There is animators working on every shot, every environment that you see in the film other than actually, there’s one shot that’s a real photographic shot, but everything else is built from scratch by artists.”

Every scene you see in the masterfully created film looks as if you can reach out to the screen and be in the environment with the animals. Everything seemed incredibly real as if you were watching a film that was shot in the wild with the wild animals.

The next actor to speak was Donald Glover, and he talked about how Simba was different in this adaptation and the things he wanted to bring to the table. He told us that “I really feel that it’s good to make movies that are global and metropolitan in the sense of the citizens of the world.’

With Simba, he portrayed this philosophy. Throughout the film, there is the classic tale of The Lion King, but there are also some messages that people all over the world can take out of it.

Now to talk about the epic duo between Pumba and Timon. People wanted to know what it was like and how Rogan and Eichner accomplished the perfect chemistry for the two characters. Rogan started by telling us, “I think you can really tell that we’re playing off of each other. It’s an incredibly naturalistic feeling.’ Eichner then answered to the question by joking around and telling us, ‘Yeah. I wish I was as cute in real life as I am in the movie. The Timon they designed is so adorable.’

The two continued to joke around with each other while giving us the perfect Pumba and Timon vibe.

Next, the press conference took the direction of the authenticity of the film by asking Dr. Kani to talk about his role as Rafiki. He talked about is his relation to Rafiki, ‘We are both over 75. So we both lived. We both walked through that forest. We both created those footpaths and intertwined with the little rabbits, and the animals go through. And we’ve seen experience life.’

One of the last questions that was asked to wrap up the press conference was to the young Shahadi. She has been a part of both the Broadway performances of The Lion King and now the all-new film, so she was asked what it was like doing both. ‘It was amazing doing both. It was such an honor doing the stage play on Broadway and also doing it in the all new Lion King. And one thing that I really saw the difference was was that on Broadway, everything is a little bit more structured.’

With that closing note, the press conference ended after a few jokes made between Seth Rogan and Jon Favreau.

Be sure to check out all of the adorable merchandise for The Lion King too. You will want it all, and you can help save real lions with every special edition plush purchase!

Lots of fun and playful Lion King shirts!

Go see this incredible cast in The Lion King out in theaters July 19, 2019. This classic retold story will take your breath away and leaving you singing the traditional songs in your head for the rest of the day.