The Lion King roars at D23 Expo 2017
On Sunday July 16, 2017, D23 Expo guests were treated to the “Celebration of an animated classic: The Lion King.” Don Hahn and Rob Minkoff were the first two people on stage, which became filled with more guests as the night went on.
The Lion King is the highest grossing, hand drawn animated film of all time according to Hahn, but Minkoff says that they couldn’t get people to work on it when they were animating it because it was considered the ‘B’ film. Pocahontas was also in production at the time, and management considered it to be a home run. The Lion King was too experimental. It was nicknamed “Bambi in Africa.”
“It was a defining moment of Disney history” when the animation department split in two, says Pumbaa animator Tony Bancroft. He wanted to draw Zazu because he had just finished with Iago.
Ernie Sabella, the voice of Pumbaa, auditioned for a hyena role with Nathan Lane. Sabella kept saying that Pumbaa was the first Disney character to have gas. Lane responded with “actually, it was Snow White, but we don’t talk about it.”
The scene where Timon asks, “What do you want me to do dress in drag and do the hula?” was an ad-lib by Lane. Hahn and Minkoff sold it with a performance of the song using a water jug as a musical instrument.
As an animator, Mark Henn is known for his princesses; drawing Young Simba gave him a different challenge. However, he wanted to do Scar.
Jim Cummings provided the voice of Ed the Hyena, who was named after Ed McMahon. Cummings also did the voice for the naked mole rat who provided news from the underground. Whoopi Goldberg begged to be in the film.
“Chemistry is everything,” says Goldberg who recorded her parts with Cheech Marin in the studio. They tried to find the voice of Ed, but Cummings had already done his work.
With Elton John touring, the demos he did were sent into the studio, and the first version of the Circle of Life song was terrible.
“Elton John is one of the most incredible songwriters,” says Minkoff. How do you tell him his song is terrible? Tim Rice went back to John to get him to change the song to what it is now.
The animators on the Lion King wanted to do something original with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” so they had Timon and Pumbaa sing it. John saw the animation and was angry that they were having a smelly warthog sing his best song. They went back and changed it, but the intro by Timon and Pumbaa is still different from anything else done before that time.
“What started as ‘King of the Jungle’… has ended up being this phenomenon,” says Hahn.
The Lion King will release on August 15, 2017 digitally and on Blu-Ray on August 29.
The Lion King is the highest grossing, hand drawn animated film of all time according to Hahn, but Minkoff says that they couldn’t get people to work on it when they were animating it because it was considered the ‘B’ film. Pocahontas was also in production at the time, and management considered it to be a home run. The Lion King was too experimental. It was nicknamed “Bambi in Africa.”
“It was a defining moment of Disney history” when the animation department split in two, says Pumbaa animator Tony Bancroft. He wanted to draw Zazu because he had just finished with Iago.
Ernie Sabella, the voice of Pumbaa, auditioned for a hyena role with Nathan Lane. Sabella kept saying that Pumbaa was the first Disney character to have gas. Lane responded with “actually, it was Snow White, but we don’t talk about it.”
The scene where Timon asks, “What do you want me to do dress in drag and do the hula?” was an ad-lib by Lane. Hahn and Minkoff sold it with a performance of the song using a water jug as a musical instrument.
As an animator, Mark Henn is known for his princesses; drawing Young Simba gave him a different challenge. However, he wanted to do Scar.
Jim Cummings provided the voice of Ed the Hyena, who was named after Ed McMahon. Cummings also did the voice for the naked mole rat who provided news from the underground. Whoopi Goldberg begged to be in the film.
“Chemistry is everything,” says Goldberg who recorded her parts with Cheech Marin in the studio. They tried to find the voice of Ed, but Cummings had already done his work.
With Elton John touring, the demos he did were sent into the studio, and the first version of the Circle of Life song was terrible.
“Elton John is one of the most incredible songwriters,” says Minkoff. How do you tell him his song is terrible? Tim Rice went back to John to get him to change the song to what it is now.
The animators on the Lion King wanted to do something original with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” so they had Timon and Pumbaa sing it. John saw the animation and was angry that they were having a smelly warthog sing his best song. They went back and changed it, but the intro by Timon and Pumbaa is still different from anything else done before that time.
“What started as ‘King of the Jungle’… has ended up being this phenomenon,” says Hahn.
The Lion King will release on August 15, 2017 digitally and on Blu-Ray on August 29.