Barry Jenkins (Mufasa: The Lion King) doesn’t believe Scar is a villain: “He was only spoiled by his father”

Premiere Mufasa: The Lion King An unpublished original story from the iconic Disney franchise will hit theaters in December. The iconic 1994 film, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, returns to the big screen with a prequel to the 2019 version. This time, The House of Mouse focuses on the father. Simbaone of the most beloved characters not only in the film, but also in the history of the company. Its director is an Oscar winner. Barry Jenkins (moonlight), came to Madrid to present the film to the press.

At Hipertextual we were able to attend the presentation of the film and the subsequent discussion with Jenkins. The director commented on some key moments of the film. And one of the most striking was the change Scar. IN Mufasa: The Lion Kingthe main character in the form of a cub intersects with another young lion, Takato whom he will become a “brother.” This friendly and fearless character would eventually become the infamous villain of the original film.

In his film Jenkins This shows him, first of all, as a good person. And he justifies his change because of his father, as seen in Mufasa: The Lion King. “You begin to understand why this character is not capable of becoming a real king in the films that you have already seen. We build a story about nature and nurture. He was simply spoiled. And all this is really something. affects us all by what we know. Scar in the rest of the films,” the director suggests.

Of course, despite the bad influence Scar come for your education, Jenkins makes it clear that he avoids most of the classic terms about heroes and villains. and in Mufasa: The Lion King It’s not different. “Every time I make a film, I like the idea that there are no villains. They’re just very complex people,” he says. “So I wouldn’t consider my father a villain, and perhaps I wouldn’t consider Scar like a villain, although you have to watch the movie to understand that,” he says.

Honor the legacy

Unlike the 2019 film, Barry Jenkins had to apply Mufasa: The Lion King a story never told before. A project he poured his heart and soul into, knowing what it would mean to expand a franchise like this. “There is no pressure, but you understand that there are very few things in a culture that can be identified across languages, regions, states, countries. If I take a stuffed animal and hold it up, you know it’s like Rafiki carrying out Simba at the beginning Lion King” he begins, celebrating the legacy he now receives.

“I think that’s why when you think about a scene, instead of the audience understanding the whole context of the scene, they come to it with a very deep understanding of the characters, so very subtle things can happen to them. make a big difference,” he then says. That’s why, Jenkins drew heavily from the saga’s popular roots to tell its story Mufasa: The Lion King.

Intense fandom

It should be noted that in reality Mufasa: The Lion King This isn’t the first time Disney has decided to expand the horizons of its beloved cartoon. It had two sequels, as well as several television series. Something that Jenkins acknowledges what they needed to keep in mind when writing this new project. “We are inspired not by the visual, but by the scriptwriter Jeff Nathanson Yeah, it was inspired by a lot of different things. I wonder what Kiara be like this, like this rudder And Pumbaa the work here is interesting too, the underdogs are an interesting concept…”, listing some elements that die-hard fans will quickly identify.

“Fans Lion King They are intense. More than I knew when I took the job. There are people on Reddit obsessed with things like what the hell is going on Zazu both this and that. So we had to pay attention to a lot of these things. There are a lot of fanfictions Lion King. “People made up all sorts of crazy stories about these characters,” he notes with a laugh. Of course, he confirms that they weren’t working on cheap winks, but on finding a coherent way to please this niche audience.

“Disney was great in making the movie not just fan service, but a movie that took what fans love about these characters and then let us Jeff Nathanson and I to bring the story to what we think it should be. So there’s some of that, but it’s not what you’d call the main canon of these films or books,” he says. Jenkins. To find out to what extent Mufasa: The Lion King closer or further from the rest of the saga, we will have to wait until December 20, the release date in cinemas worldwide.