After Lin-Manuel Miranda became a household name for his massive Broadway musicals, Hamilton and In The Heights, the composer has been the latest big name to contribute to a ton of Disney music. Miranda previously composed original songs for Moana, Encanto and the live-action The Little Mermaid. Now, his talents have been put to use on another one of Disney’s upcoming movies – Mufasa: The Lion King. However, apparently, he wasn’t singing “Hakuna Matata” when he was first offered the gig.
Lin-Manuel Miranda recently talked about the experience writing for Mufasa while speaking onstage at the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2024 in New York City. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the composer initially felt “great trepidation” toward being part of The Lion King prequel at first. Why? Well, because the original movie with songs by Elton John and Tim Rice is such a behemoth. As he explained it, it has “five songs, all bangers.”
However, then something changed his mind. Or, someone anyway. It was Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins. As Miranda commented:
That’s sort of like Greta Gerwig directing Barbie.
Jenkins is the filmmaker behind the Best Picture winner Moonlight along with 2019’s If Beale Street Could Talk. He is one of the most acclaimed Black filmmakers of our time, and he’s helming a massive big-budget blockbuster for the first time with Mufasa. Lin-Manuel Miranda comparing him and The Lion King prequel to Greta Gerwig and Barbie seems to be in relation to the filmmakers having distinct voices and huge properties to bring their visions to.
Prior to Gerwig making Barbie, she had directed other passion projects like Lady Bird and Little Women, both of which earned a lot of awards buzz. When it came to last year’s biggest movie, she found a way to make a film about a huge commercial brand by having the story focus on the power of girlhood and womanhood. That, and she had Margot Robbie as producer on her side.
As the Mufasa: The Lion King release date draws closer, we know that the movie will follow the origin story of Mufasa and his brotherhood with Scar prior to their falling out. With the film almost here, surely there will be some conversations regarding how Moonlight’s attention to telling the story of a Black man’s life from childhood to adulthood compares and differs from what is told in Mufasa.
You can check out the Mufasa trailer here:
The movie stars Rebel Ridge’s Aaron Pierre as the voice of Mufasa and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Scar along with the return of Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, Billy Eichner as Timon, John Kani as Rafiki, Donald Glover as Simba and Beyoncé as Nala. You can look forward to seeing Barry Jenkins’ Mufasa and the songs Miranda composed when the movie premieres on the 2024 movie schedule on December 20.