PERRI NEMIROFF: You’ve been lucky enough to work withtwogreat directors on these characters.
Can you tell me something about Barry specifically that made makingMufasaa creatively unique experience for you?
BILLY EICHNER: He was just incredibly encouraging.
Image via Disney
EICHNER: We were beholden tonothing.
[Laughs]
I like when you work that way!
EICHNER: Pretty much everything.
Image via Paramount Pictures
ROGEN: Literally everything.
I watched it with my jaw on the floor.
ROGEN: Like, They used that?
I could not believe it.
ROGEN: Hakuna Mufasa.
It was literally a very silly moment that became an actual song.
I enjoyed how you held tight to that and kept it going.
ROGEN: Oh, yeah!
I’m wondering if you could pay it forward again.
Image via Disney+
We wrote the 40-year-old-man version of four teenagers having a conversation, but put it in your own words.
And we were encouraged to do that with this.
[Laughs]
EICHNER: Beholden to nothing and no one during the making of this film.
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.
ROGEN: It’ssucha big difference.
Now, I fully took it from Jon on the first one.
Edebiri also revisits meeting Rachel Sennott and making ‘Bottoms’ on Collider Ladies Night!
I did want to ask the two of you about the songs.
ROGEN: Thats a good question.
EICHNER: Maybe we would take one fromEncantoand stick it in this movie.
Oh, we’re going to other films now.
ROGEN: Id do that Bruno song.
We Don’t Talk About Bruno We don’t give Timon and Pumbaa a song either, apparently.
I was thinking maybe the brother song.
EICHNER: The brother song is really good.
ROGEN: Thats a little more organic.
I quite enjoyed that.
ROGEN: Its from this movie.
EICHNER: That’s a really good song.
ROGEN: It’s a good song.
I love how it’s used in this film, and also in this industry.
He was onFreaks and Geeks, and we became very good friends.
EICHNER: Thats so nice.
So, that’s so cute.
Now were friends again all these years later.
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.
