it’s possible for you to watch the full interview in the video above or read the transcript below.
BARRY JENKINS: One thing that stays the same is it’s about characters.
The audience can intuit what is happening.
Image via Disney
OnMufasa, it was about taking these virtual production tools and finding a way to do the same thing.
JENKINS: Yeah, I think definitely.
And then directing the blocking on purely, purely physical performance was really interesting, as well.
Your mind clicks into this different mode.
you’re free to do it both in this virtual production and you could do it in live-action.
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: Oh, that’s a great question.
Image via Disney
Honestly, the answer to your first question is the last song because I wrote pretty consecutively.
I started with I Always Wanted a Brother and kind of worked my way through.
I think the one that took the most care and had the most levels of iteration was probably Milele.
Image via Disney
It’s tough describing paradise [laughs], so I actually listened to a lot of spirituals.
Again, I feel likeLion Kingis so much a part of our bloodstream.
I’ve listened to it so much over the years, so, no, not really.
Mufasa, a cub lost and alone, meets a sympathetic lion named Taka, the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of a group of misfits searching for their destiny.
We almost didn’t feel the love tonight.
Barry, I’m just obsessed with Aaron [Pierre] and Kelvin [Harrison Jr.].
He had this energy.
There’s a hurt, theres a woundedness, there’s a bitterness.
I’m still working with all these people.
And that was it.
Let’s find the film that does that.
So, I candeeplyrelate to the themes of found family in this film.
I think it’s the only reason why I’m sitting here talking to you right now.
MIRANDA: Yeah, and all the full-circle things you’re describing resonate with me so much.
Tommy Kail was someone I met the week after I graduated from college.
He was like, No, I think we should just keep working on it, making it better.
And all these years later, I was just in Hawaii, where he’s directing the live-actionMoana.
So, the full-circleness of that is just staggering.
Mufasa: The Lion Kingopens in theaters on December 20.
The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of a group of misfits searching for their destiny.
