Donald Glover and James Earl Jones will be bringing back to life the famous Disney characters Simba and Mufasa for the new edition of “The Lion King.”
The Walt Disney Company had announced back in September the remake of its classic 1994 animated film, The Lion King. The company has been releasing reboots of their earlier music-filled movies and hopes the reimagining of “The Lion King” will add to the success of similar productions like “Maleficient”, “Cinderella”, “Pete’s Dragon”, “The Jungle Book”, and the much anticipated “Beauty and The Beast”, debuting next month.
This time around, it is likely that the lion who taught us about the problem-free philosophy Hakuna Matata will be making it to movie theaters in a CGI live-action version, similar to how “The Jungle Book” revival was created by the directing hands of Jon Favreau.
Favreau revealed last year onTwitter that he was also trusted with the direction of the new Disney project. The actor and filmmaker gave away clues using the lion and crown emojis, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Favreau was also involved with films like “Iron Man”, “Iron Man 2” and will participate in the next two installments of the Avengers movie franchise.
Mattew Broderick played the main character in the cartoon version while Jeremy Irons gave life to Scar, the evil uncle who kills the king.
We just can’t wait
Last night, the director took to Twitter once again to announce the casting of Donald Glover and James Earl Jones as voice actors. Favreau shared his excitement to be working with the two actors, posting a picture of them.
Donald Glover, 33 is an actor, comedian, and musician also known by his stage name Childish Gambino. He is the leading star and creator of the television series “Atlanta”, which earned him two Golden Globe award earlier this year. He will be lending his voice to the protagonistic role of Simba.
Glover will also join the upcoming Han Solo spin-off, by portraying Lando Calrissian. The film remains untitled and it’s supposed to be the second from the Star Wars Anthology Series.
As for Jones, 86, the actor will be returning as Mufasa, Simba’s father, claiming the role he played in the original motion picture and the two direct-to-video sequels “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride” and “The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar.”
Jones has been one of the best-known voices in show business, also recognized for voicing Star War’s Darth Vader. He recently reprised the villain in Disney’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, the first in the Anthology Series.
Disney has confirmed songs from the first movie will be featured in the new adaptation of the story. Beloved tunes include Circle of Life, I Just Can’t Wait to Be King, Be Prepared, Hakuna Matata and Can You Feel the Love Tonight, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1995. The renowned musical track was written by Sir Elton John and Sir Tim Rice.
The mass media and entertainment giant stated that the film is on the “fast-track to production”, although no official date has been publicly set for releasing it to the big screen.
Source: Daily Mail UK