THE secrets of the Lion King’s live action remake have been revealed by Disney with director Jon Favreau saying it had to “feel like it’s 2019”.
The director has said that the cast and crew envisioned a “very modern” story for the new version of the tale.
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Favreau said that in the 25 yeas since the original film was released, the comedy has dated and he also said the casting and authenticity of the project had to feel up to date.
The filmmaker, who was also behind the updated version of The Jungle Book, has said he felt a responsibility to honour the original material.
He said: “I think the whole thing has to feel like it’s 2019.
“Whether it’s the music, the casting, the visual effects, the way we really try to embrace the authenticity of what inspired the original. Then letting the comedy be updated too, and make that feel modern, because that’s one of the areas where I felt 25 years, you felt the difference.”
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Favreau has said that he wanted the film to both feel new and like the original version.
He said he wanted the audience response to be: “Even though this is a new movie, I did see the Lion King.”
He added: “Then hopefully the new generation goes back and looks at the old version too.”
Favreau also said that he did not want the audience to miss out on a new experience, wanting to ensure: “It didn’t just feel like, ‘I should have just watched the cartoon’, that this is something that’s building upon something I already love.”
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He accomplished it with a series of moments to pay homage to the original, which is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, including recreating iconic moments like Simba, Timon and Pumbaa being silhouetted against the moon.
Production designer James Chinlund said: “That’s sacred terrain. You can’t not do that.”
They also filmed in Kenya to visualise the scenes and make them as realistic as possible with things like the right shade and shape of rocks, the colour of the sunrise and even the depth of the colours in the plants.
The team also travelled to Namibia to get a feel of where the iconic stampede scene would take place in real life.
Favreau added: “There’s a common acceptance that this is how nature looks. So we’re trying to import that sense of realism by borrowing their techniques.”
The team also assembled an A-list cast to voice the movie with Beyonce, Seth Rogen and Chiwetel Ejiofor in starring roles.
But to make the computer animated animals as realistic as possible the filmakers teamed up with the animal scene department at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida to record the natural movements of three quarters of all the animal species that would appear on screen.
The Lion King is released Friday in the UK.
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