For the new Lion King prequel, director Barry Jenkins explains why it was important to give creative freedom to the movie’s African actors.
Mufasa’s death in Disney’s original “The Lion King” is, for many children of the ’90s, a traumatic moment in cinema history. When Scar threw his brother off the cliff, his goodbye — “Long live the king” — dripping with sarcasm, audiences were led to believe that, like the helpless young Simba, they had seen the last of the charismatic King of the Pride Lands. But in the new film “Mufasa: The Lion King,” Mufasa’s story is told from cub to grown lion.
“Rafiki is a traveler,” said Lediga, “this kind of pan-Africanist guy.” “As you’re doing it,” Lediga explained, “you go: ‘But is Rafiki Swahili? He comes from Kenya, he’s the Serengeti guy.’ But then, I’m like a Tswana guy who speaks Sepedi, who’s got a bit of Zulu and Xhosa in me.” John Kani, 81, plays the older Rafiki in the new film. “I’ve always seen Rafiki as the custodian of the culture,” he said, “A historian.
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