Mufasa: The Lion King actors Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr. on stepping into iconic roles

Stepping into the roles of Mufasa and Scar (aka Taka) was no easy task for Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Aaron Pierre. These characters aren’t just iconographically giant, but they were defined on screen by the voices of James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons. As Pierre explains in an interview over the phone, the process wasn’t easy. “For me, there was a lot of failing forward. You fell forward until you had a moment of success and then you mined that. That’s where a lot of the joy comes in, because you found something tangible.”

Mufasa: The Lion King, the latest “live-action” Disney film, is a prequel that re-imagines Mufasa’s youth. A story within a story, the movie opens as Simba and Nala go off into the jungle, leaving their young cub to the care of Timon, Pumbaa and Rafiki. To entertain the child, they tell the epic story of Simba’s father Mufasa, and how he came to be king. 

Director Barry Jenkins, fresh off the unexpected Moonlight win at the Oscars and his epic followup for Amazon, The Underground Railroad, initially seemed like an unexpected choice for a Disney family film. Those projects, which both build on intimacy and interpersonal relationships, feel opposed to the larger-scale process of a studio film. 

Yet both Harrison Jr. and Pierre credit Jenkins for establishing a strong creative environment. “A lot of it is just Barry setting the stage, you know. He let us feel like we could kind of try anything, and we felt like it was a really safe space to just play. And I think we understood the assignment, as the kids say,” explains Harrison Jr. He adds that the success of the film relies heavily on this energy. “What transcends the most is our playfulness and our joy in making this experience as truthful as possible. 

Aaron Pierre, who also starred in The Underground Railroad, describes Jenkins: “He rises to the occasion, every occasion. If you look at his filmography, Medicine for Melancholy, Moonlight, The Underground Railroad, If Beale Street Could Talk and Mufasa: The Lion King, he just creates beautiful stories. He navigates challenging topics in a way that is really accessible.”

It’s strange to think, watching Mufasa, that Harrison Jr. and Pierre didn’t meet until after the film was finished. Jokingly, Harrison Jr. says he felt “duped.” Laughing, he explains, “I saw the videos online, and Seth and everybody from the 2019 version were in the studio together, and we didn’t get the opportunity. And I was like, ‘Man, what is the deal here?’ I thought we were all going to get to sing a song together and not do pieces of a song and then put it together. But, you know, testament to everyone’s talent on this one.”

The lengthy process of making these films also means that a lot of other ingredients are missing. Pierre didn’t even know what his character looked like while doing the voice work. Harrison Jr. said he did, but he had to “beg.” Pierre had only seen early sketches, which is very different from the final version. But, he explains, “Barry is so phenomenal that even though I didn’t have those images to reference, he was guiding me in the direction that I needed to go in order for it to seamlessly come together.”

Harrison Jr. recalls talking to Barry about his character’s look. “I remember seeing an interview with Jeremy Irons saying that he didn’t like the sketches of his character at first. He was like, ‘Why y’all want to make me look scrawny like that?’ And so I said, Barry, ‘I watched that interview of Jeremy Irons. Don’t do the same to me. Let’s not repeat history.’ So show me the progress. And he looked quite strong and handsome, so I approved.”

Watching the film for the first time was an intense experience. “It was epic, truly epic. I don’t use that word often. I was skeptical of the 2019 version of it, but there’s something about this that feels different. It feels more interactive and more playful. More honest in a lot of ways,” says Harrison Jr.

For both actors though, the most important thing was bringing kids into the story. They talk about how the film invites such a visceral physical experience, “you can almost smell the lion’s breath” says Harrison Jr. It’s also a kind of coming home, a fulfillment of a kind of dream. “Here we are as 30-year-old kids, still — getting to live out our little Disney dreams. So thank you. Thank you everybody who let this happen,” says Harrison Jr. ■

Mufasa: The Lion King is now playing in Montreal theatres.

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