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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 2 May 2019
Summer Movie Preview: 'The Lion King' roars again

By LINDSEY BAHR "Working on it doesn't make
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Direc- it any less emotional," Fa-
tor Jon Favreau has just left vreau said.
a scoring session for "The And don't even get him
Lion King " with Hans Zim- started on what it was like
mer and an orchestra. It to listen to James Earl Jones
was for the stampede (yes, record his lines as Mufasa.
THAT stampede). And it will Favreau and an army of
come as no surprise to any- people behind the scenes
one familiar with the 1994 are putting the finishing
animated classic that, with touches on what might be
Favreau's footage playing this summer's most antici-
in the background, it got pated release, one that's
a little emotional in that been three years in the
room. making with some of the

This image released by Disney shows the characters Zazu, voiced by John Oliver, left, and Simba,
voiced by JD McCrary, in a scene from "The Lion King," directed by Jon Favreau.
Associated Press

biggest names in enter- Jungle Book" was out to Ejiofor as Scar, Seth Rogen
tainment, including Beyon- give him the official word, as Pumbaa and Billy Eich-
cé, and the expectations but the 2016 movie which ner as Timon, the process
couldn't be higher. None scored with both critics was pretty similar to what
of the other major studios and audiences, turned out they would have done for
are even daring to go up to be a pretty good audi- a traditionally animated
against "The Lion King" tion. And he set to work movie, but Favreau also
when it opens July 19. prepping this "live-action" filmed the actors during
The animated film, which ''Lion King," which, it should their voice recording ses-
opened in June 1994 at the be said isn't live-action at sions to help the animators.
peak of the Disney anima- all. It's a combination of vir- He knew it would look to
tion renaissance, went on tual reality and "keyframe weird to try to translate hu-
to become a critical hit, animation," which means man expressions onto the
the highest grossing film of that the animals are all ani- cats' faces so instead emo-
the year at the worldwide mated by hand, "just like tion is conveyed through
box office (it was second all the old animated mov- body language (and a little
domestically to "Forrest ies," Favreau explained. In mouth moving for the dia-
Gump"), a two-time Oscar other words, if you visited logue).
winner for Zimmer's score the set, you would not find Anyone who's seen the
and the song "Can You some gargantuan sound- marketing thus far has no
Feel the Love Tonight," and stage and a bunch of ac- doubt recognized some
a Broadway show — now tors running around acting familiar touchstones from
the third-longest running like lions while covered in the 1994 film. So familiar, in
and one of the most suc- motion capture bodysuits fact, that many started to
cessful in history. So it was and dots. wonder if this was going to
only a matter of time be- Rather, it was more of a be a shot-for-shot remake.
fore the Walt Disney Co., in "black box with people Favreau said that isn't the
this new era of live-action wearing headsets and VR case.
remakes of its animated goggles." "It diverges quite a bit," he
library which this year in- The VR was used to "drive said. "It's much longer than
cluded both "Dumbo" and the camera" and "instead the original film. And part
"Aladdin," turned to one of of just one layout artist on of what we're doing here is
its most beloved. a computer, we had a to (give it more dimension)
Favreau wasn't finished with full crew operating virtual not just visually but both
his version of "The Jungle cameras in a virtual reality story wise and emotionally."
Book" when he started in- environment," he said. The main story points are
quiring about plans for "The That includes esteemed the same, but like the stage
Lion King." He'd learned so cinematographer Caleb musical, there will be differ-
much about motion cap- Deschanel, a six-time Os- ences too. Plus, he wanted
ture technology and had car nominee. to capitalize on the unique-
a team he knew how to The resulting special effect ness of his actors.
collaborate with. He was is that "It should feel like a With Beyoncé, for instance,
ready to take it to the next live-action movie," he said, he even changed the way
level. So, he raised his hand even if it's technically ani- he directed her and ap-
for the big job. mated. proached her animation
"I kind of lobbied for it," Fa- For the cast, which includes after seeing her stage show
vreau said. Donald Glover as Simba, and all the personas she
The studio waited until "The Beyoncé as Nala, Chiwetel channels for each song.q