Lin-Manuel Miranda describes the process of creating the soundtrack for 'Mufasa: The Lion King' while paying homage to the original 'Lion King' while chatting with THR at the premiere. Plus, he raves about working with director Barry Jenkins.
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00:00What was it like stepping into yet another Disney film?
00:04Your soundtracks go crazy, so I just want to know what was the process like for this particular film?
00:11Oh, I mean, for me the joy was in getting to work with Barry Jenkins.
00:14He's one of our great filmmakers.
00:16I was honored that he asked me and then I read the script and I was just so surprised by it.
00:21I just, everything I thought I knew about Mufasa and Scar was totally upside down
00:25and I just, I could see very clearly where the songs went
00:29and, you know, the Lion King is so beloved by so many people, including myself,
00:33so I just wanted to do right by it.
00:35In 30 years from the original, right,
00:37so how do you keep things fresh and fun and unique for this film?
00:41Oh, that was all in the script, you know.
00:43To tell the story of Mufasa and Scar,
00:46you almost need to just go in the opposite direction of what everyone knows.
00:49Like, this is a story of two brothers who adore each other
00:53and how do we get from that to the way we met Mufasa and Scar in the original?
00:57Hi, gorgeous.
01:02That's just legend Anika Noni Rose over there.
01:05So yeah, so it was, the fun is in leaning into the part of the story we don't know.
01:10Absolutely, and when it comes to the brotherhood, right,
01:12that we're going to see, how does your music kind of push the story of Circle of Life forward?
01:17Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, that Circle of Life notion
01:21has become such a part of global culture
01:23and they really, you know, Tim Rice really coined a phrase by writing that song.
01:29And then there's fun in upending that, right?
01:31We have a villain named Kiros voiced by Mads Mikkelsen
01:34and one of his lyrics is,
01:35The circle of life is a lie,
01:37a pretty way to say there are predators and prey.
01:39So to have a villain that kind of like attacks our very notion of this
01:44is really exciting and feels dangerous and it was really fun to write.