Says director Barry Jenkins, “In ‘The Lion King,’ when Mufasa looks up into the heavens and you see all the great kings, we assume that they were all just born great. I saw this film as an opportunity to really ground Mufasa—to show that this guy was not born perfect. He was not born wealthy. He was not born entitled. He was just someone with a family who lost that family. Then faith and fortune and luck gave him a new family that he learned from and built with. He wasn’t given a damn thing—he earned all of it through learning, through being one with his environment, through caring for others.”
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REVIEW: Mufasa: The Lion King is a masterpiece that resonates deeply with audiences. The film explores universal themes such as the cycle of life, the journey to self-discovery, courage, and redemption. These themes have a timeless appeal, touching on fundamental aspects of the human experience. Characters like Mufasa, Simba, Scar, and Rafiki are richly developed and unforgettable. Their unique personalities and journeys allow audiences to connect on an emotional level. The film imparts important life lessons about responsibility, the consequences of one’s actions, and the power of forgiveness and hope. Mufasa’s wisdom and teachings to Simba are particularly impactful. The breathtaking animation captures the grandeur of the African savanna, creating a vivid tapestry that pulls viewers into the world of Pride Rock. The film’s score, featuring music by Elton John and Hans Zimmer, is iconic. The songs and orchestral pieces elevate the emotional intensity and joy of the narrative. The Lion King has had a significant cultural impact, inspiring countless adaptations across various media and resonating with different generations since its release. Simba’s journey from a carefree cub to a responsible king mirrors the struggles many face in finding their identity and place in the world.
“Mufasa: The Lion King broadens the definition of family. “Mufasa and Taka’s relationship is the foundation for the incredible journey of this film, and the starting point for what will become the found family we know and love across the franchise,” says producer Mark Ceryak.
“It is through their brotherhood that we are thrust into the adventure; they would do anything for each other and so they must to survive. Taka, Eshe and Obasi are Mufasa’s original found family, but it’s through Mufasa and Taka’s bond that they expand their circle with Rafiki, Sarabi and Zazu. Familial bonds are at the core of everything we experience in this story.”
Blending live-action filmmaking techniques with photoreal computer-generated imagery, Mufasa: The Lion King captures the richness and diversity of Africa’s landscape. The look is both stunning and surprising, showcasing the locale like never before—including snowy scenes.
Jenkins, who describes the story of Mufasa’s life before he was king as a journey film, says, “At the beginning of our movie, Mufasa gets washed away from the habitat that we’ve come to expect of ‘The Lion King.’ He gets washed all the way down the continent, and he has to work his way back. That gave us this opportunity to really cover all of these different environments and climates.”
Exploring the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, Mufasa: The Lion King enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny—their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.
Disney’s all-new coming-of-age tale of the future king of the Pride Lands kicked off production in Spring 2022 in a new and unique facility in downtown Los Angeles—its nondescript exterior concealing the cutting-edge cinematic technology within. Directed by Jenkins from a screenplay by Jeff Nathanson, the big-screen adventure is produced by Adele Romanski, p.g.a., & Mark Ceryak, p.g.a., and executive produced by Peter Tobyansen.
Jenkins worked alongside animators and digital artists at the Moving Picture Company to create the look of the film. MPC’s animators and digital artists bring a cast of Disney’s beloved animal characters to life for a third time following 2016’s “The Jungle Book” and 2019’s “The Lion King.”
When Barry Jenkins kicked off his efforts behind Mufasa: The Lion King in 2020, he had a vision.
“The look of the film was really important to me,” says the director, who was inspired by the films and stage musical that audiences have long embraced. “This film had to stand on its own.”
Filmmakers worked in digital virtual reality to scout locations and plan the shoot for the movie. With influences from real locations throughout Africa, a defining journey was envisioned and executed for Mufasa, future leader of the Pride Lands, capturing Jenkins’ lyrical style, emotion and vast vision for the film.
From the production design and cinematography to the digital design, animation and editing, filmmakers blended approaches from animation and live-action. Teaming up with artists and technicians from MPC, filmmakers worked in digital virtual reality to scout locations, plan and shoot the movie. With their collective talent and dedication, they meticulously captured the essence of Jenkins’ vision, infusing every frame with a captivating blend of emotion and beauty.
Friedberg’s virtual process aligned in many ways with a live-action approach. After researching, scouting, securing and documenting the locations, his team began designing and building the sets, beginning with concept art. “It’s complicated, involving hundreds of drawings that can take weeks,” he says. “The next layer was the virtual set, a three-dimensional space we created based on the concept art.”
Friedberg was eager to create the kind of expressive imagery that Jenkins gravitates toward. “There is emotion in each frame,” he says. “We wanted the story to be sensory and intuitive and emotional.”
As with 2019’s “The Lion King,” “Mufasa” is a blend of animation, photoreal CGI and live-action filmmaking techniques. Visual effects supervisor Adam Valdez and his team have benefited from advances since audiences embraced a new look for Simba and his quest. “As computers get faster and Unreal Engine gets more sophisticated, we are able to better create a photographic feeling during this process. In the past, it’s been more primitive-looking. If you think about mood and suspension of disbelief in a movie, this is critical. We don’t just want this work to look like moving versions of storyboards. We want it to evoke feeling, and we want it to feel like it’s tonally in line with where they think the scene is going. And that all has an impact on how you design shots.”
To get a three-dimensional sense of Friedberg’s sets and to plot out and/or review shots, and angles and scenes in the world of “Mufasa,” the team regularly donned headsets and trekked to Africa via a virtual-reality setup. “Crucially, it allowed the team to develop a physical relationship with the sets and locations,” says Friedberg.
With a career rooted in live-action filmmaking, cinematographer James Laxton, ASC, got an opportunity to explore an entirely new playground. “I really took a deep dive into the virtual production tool set,” he says. “I was very interested in trying to understand some of the virtual capture tool sets in hopes that it would free me up to not limit myself to a live action approach. Clearly, the process is different, but the anchor is the story that Barry wants to tell. There are a lot of differences in terms of lighting the set and how light plays and atmosphere levels—all that stuff is made in the computer with a lighting team, so sky’s the limit. You have such freedom to do anything. Your only limit is your imagination, which is a pretty powerful concept.”
Laxton applied his live-action background to digital filmmaking. “The set was designed in the computer, starting with Mark Friedberg’s creations—concept art and plans—then Adam Valdez’s amazing team animated that set and then my lighting team began their work, starting to virtually light to our visual specifications and that came to the stage with us when we began to shoot the movie,” he says. “Camera moves and angles and lighting, these are all part and parcel of the job of cinematographer. It’s just not in a literally physical space. In some ways, it’s quite a similar process to live action—color palette, movement, lighting—these elements we consider in live action, too.”
Editor Joi McMillon, ACE, worked with Jenkins to create early reels of the film using voice recordings and storyboards. The resulting roadmap informed animators, cinematographers and the rest of the team as the film came together. McMillon continued to refine it as production/post production progressed. The process differed from the live-action titles she’s worked on for Jenkins, including “Moonlight,” “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “The Underground Railroad.” “Usually when Barry and I work together, it’s after production,” says McMillon. “That’s when we start to dig in and try to figure out what each scene and sequence are about based on the script and everything that has been shot.”
McMillon’s history with Jenkins and live-action filmmaking informed every edit. “My editorial team and I have an old-school approach,” she says. “I know how specific Barry is about transitions and the feelingcoming in and out of scenes. So, even though we might only be turning over a little bit of a section, I would build in a transition in and out of the scene, which was crazy to do before we’d seen the film in its entirety. But we soon found a groove and became accustomed to that way of working.”
The powerful blend of epic vistas, details from the natural world and music define the rising king’s adventure. Hundreds of artists across three continents dedicated four years to digital world-building, animation, digital cinematography and complex visual effects that required the unprecedented use of the latest computer graphics techniques, immense data and computing power. Add to that a compelling score and a host of all-new songs—the result is a piece of tremendous scope and drama.
Continuing the tradition that made the animated movie, the stage show and 2019’s celebrated film beloved in the hearts of audiences worldwide, the new story comes to life on the big screen thanks in large part to the music.
“The music of ‘The Lion King’ has always been iconic,” says Jenkins. “It takes Western music, the work of Elton John, and blends it with the sound of the continent, of Africa, which was really important to me. Lin-Manuel Miranda really embraced and understood that. We all got together and tried to excavate the wonderful work they did on the original film, but then take the energy of Lebo M—who, to me, is the voice of ‘The Lion King’—and go somewhere new.”
Says producer Adele Romanski, p.g.a., “OK, let’s be real, those OG ‘Lion King’ songs are bangers. But Lin-Manuel Miranda is a musical genius, and I think as soon as folks hear the new songs he wrote for the film, they will join the Elton John and Tim Rice jams from LK ‘94 in the ‘Lion King’ musical canon.”
Miranda, who wrote original songs for “Mufasa: The Lion King” that are produced by Mark Mancina and Miranda, with additional music and performances by Lebo M, says he found an immediate connection with the story. “When I read the screenplay, I felt like the places where the songs needed to happen really just popped out,” he says. “In fact, [for] at least a few of the songs, the titles of the songs I ended up writing were originally lines of dialogue in the screenplay. ‘I always wanted a brother’—there’s a line of dialogue—and I built the whole song around that title. I’m always looking to the screenplay for clues as to what wants to sing.”
Miranda also looked for opportunities to have a little fun. “It’s a harrowing journey that our characters go on,” says the songwriter. “I think it’s my job to write ‘joy bombs’ in the middle of this movie—moments of pure joy and escape in that same way that when you first saw ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Hakuna Matata’ came out of nowhere and delighted you.”
The film’s original score was composed by Dave Metzger. Nicholas Britell contributed to “I Always Wanted a Brother” and contributed several original score themes as well.
Supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Onnalee Blank, CAS, MPSE, created the sonic equivalent of a full assembly, a companion to editor Joi McMillon’s visual iteration, all before cameras rolled. If the soundscape feels immersive, it’s because of Blank’s dedication to authenticity.
BARRY JENKINS (Directed by) is a film director, writer, producer, and screenwriter. In 2016, he won the Academy Award for best picture for “Moonlight” as well as the Golden Globe Award. His screen adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” received critical acclaim and won a best supporting actress award for Regina King at 2019’s Academy Awards. His adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel earned multiple awards, including the AFI Award for TV program of the year, the ASC Award for outstanding achievement in cinematography in motion picture, limited series or pilot made for television, BAFTA TV International Award, the DGA Award for outstanding directorial achievement in movies for television and limited series, the Golden Globe for best television limited series, anthology series or motion picture made for television, 2022; the Image Award for outstanding directing in a drama series; the Golden Reel Award for outstanding achievement in sound editing – limited series or anthology and earned seven Emmy nominations.
Born Nov. 19, 1979, in Liberty City, Miami, Fla., Jenkins was 12 when his father died leaving his mother, who struggled with drug addiction, to raise him and his three siblings. He attended Northwestern Senior High in Miami where he played football. In 2003, he graduated from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He worked as a carpenter and co-founded an advertising company called Strike Anywhere.
Jenkins first got into film by being drawn to French and Asian New Wave Cinema. At film school at Florida State he made a seven-minute short film, “My Josephine” (2003), about a couple of Arab immigrants who ran a laundromat and dry cleaners. He identified with characters who were outside the mainstream and “decided to take my experience of feeling like an ‘other’ as a Black man in the South, and use that as a way to empathize with my characters.”
His first experience with Hollywood-style filmmaking occurred when he worked in Los Angeles as a director’s assistant on Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Production Film production of “Their Eyes Were Watching God, “(2005) based on Zora Neale Hurston’s novel. In 2008 he wrote and directed “Medicine for Melancholy,” which won critical acclaim. A low-budget independent film, it was a story about the relationship between two people in over a twenty-four-hour period in a San Francisco neighborhood undergoing gentrification. In 2011, he wrote and directed “Remigration,” a sci-fi short film also about gentrification.
Jenkins co-wrote the screenplay for his second film, “Moonlight,” with playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney. “Moonlight” was a coming-of-age story of a gay Florida youth who, over the course of 16 years, discovers “the nature and meaning of manhood.” After a troubled childhood, where he is neglected and mistreated by a drug addicted mother, he becomes a brooding teenager, confused about his sexuality. Finally, as a young adult he understands and accepts himself.
Jenkins’ next film, “If Beale Street Could Talk” (2019), like “Moonlight,” garnered considerable praise, winning the 2018 Independent Spirit Award for best film and best director, and a nomination for best adapted screenplay at the 89th Academy Awards. A love story, the film, based on James Baldwin’s novel, was a dream come true for Jenkins, who worked with the Baldwin Estate. Regina King won best supporting actress for her role as Sharon Rivers.
JEFF NATHANSON (Screenplay by) has been a screenwriter for over thirty years. His credits include the “Rush Hour” series, “Catch Me If You Can,” “The Terminal,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” “Tower Heist,” “Pirates of the Caribbean — Dead Men Tell No Tales” and “The Lion King.” This year, he not only wrote “Mufasa: The Lion King,” but he also wrote and produced “Young Woman and the Sea” starring Daisy Ridley. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.
