Barry Jenkins Says Directing Disney’s ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ Wasn’t for Him: “I want to work the other way again, where I want to physically get everything there.”

Mufasa: The Lion King is a prequel to Disney’s live-action The Lion King. The movie will explore Mufasa’s early years, though the full plot is still under wraps. It’s expected to dive deeper into the tense relationship between Mufasa and Scar. Timon and Pumbaa will also return, with Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen reprising their roles.

Director Barry Jenkins recently shared that he’s not keen on returning to the CGI technology used for the film.

“When I took this job, the idea was ‘What does Barry Jenkins know about visual effects? Why the hell would he do this movie? Why would he be making The Lion King?”

“I think part of that I found very invigorating. People make these things, you know, with computers. So anybody should be able to do this. Anybody, right? There’s nothing physically that says I am incapable of doing this.”

He admitted taking the job as “work for hire,” partly to have stable work in Los Angeles for three years, where he lives with his wife, filmmaker Lulu Wang. “I needed to slow… the fuck… down,” Jenkins said, explaining that he and his wife were frequently traveling to different cities for work.

Jenkins also revealed this week that he nearly passed on the project when Disney first sent him the script.

“My thought was, Oh, I’ll just give this a few days and I’ll call my agent and tell them I’ve read it and I’m not going to do this project.”

He and Wang went on vacation, and he completely forgot about the script. When they returned, it came back to mind:

“OK, shit, that’s right! I have to call my agents tomorrow and remind them that I’m not going to do this project.”

He intended to read only five pages of the script but ended up reading 50. “I turned to Lulu and said, ‘Holy shit, this is good,’” he recalled.

Bringing the script to life as a digital film was more difficult. The CGI process didn’t use sets or costumes and was filmed on an empty soundstage.

“It is not my thing. It is not my thing. I want to work the other way again, where I want to physically get everything there. I always believe that what is here is enough, and let me just figure out what is the chemistry to make alchemy? How can these people, this light, this environment, come together to create an image that is moving, that is beautiful, that creates a text that is deep enough, dense enough, rich enough to speak to someone?”

The Moonlight director explained that he tried to bring his own style to Mufasa with long, continuous shots, though Disney sometimes thought they were too “slow.” He shared a story about the animators accidentally making a scene where it looked like the camera operator stumbled. While the team initially removed it, Jenkins insisted they keep it.

“Don’t smooth the shit out,” he said. “We want just something that has texture, something that feels organic. And sometimes that can be the hardest thing to dial in because every single blade of grass has to be created by someone. But you ultimately don’t want everything to feel like it’s been created by anyone. You want it to feel like it naturally arose.”

Source

Mufasa: The Lion King is set to be released in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on December 20, 2024.

Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, John Kani, and Beyoncé reprise their roles from the remake. New cast members include Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Anika Noni Rose, and Blue Ivy Carter, who is making her feature film debut.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!