Join WhatsApp Channel
Join Telegram Channel 1/ It’s (very) inspired by a Japanese manga
But Disney has long denied it, claiming that these were just coincidences and that their real source material was none other than William Shakespeare's Hamlet. It's classy, but it's not the only source of inspiration. And lying is bad. Even Matthew Broderick, who voices Simba in the original version, was at the time convinced that he was dealing with an adaptation of the famous manga. That's what he said to those around him. It went quite far since in 1994, a petition signed by 1,100 Japanese fans, artists and cartoonists was sent to Disney so that they recognize their wrongs. Which they only did officially in 2001, apologizing for the unacknowledged borrowings. But Tezuka's firm never filed a complaint since the artist, himself a fan of Disney's works, would have been flattered to see the American studio take inspiration from one of his creations. Hakuna Matata, what.
2/ The music is (VERY) inspired by Lebo M
The fantastic soundtrack of The Lion King is officially not plagiarism but rather “the extension of the concept initiated on another film” as singer Lebo M explains. It is he who sings during the opening of the film: ” Nants ingonyama bagithi baba, Sithi uhhmm ingonyama”. But he is also the voice of the music for the film The Power of the Angel. And it was while listening to the soundtrack of this film that Disney had the idea of contacting the team who made it. So they hired Hans Zimmer who contacted his friend Lebo M.
And they say it themselves, even if it is not a copy and paste, the soundtracks are very close or rather as Lebo M says: “We tried to create a different, unique score, by combining elements of African percussion and choirs, synthesizer and more classical orchestrations The Lion King was really the accomplishment of what we attempted on The Power of the Angel.
3/ The Lion King was thought of as “a small film”
At least, that's how Disney imagined it. When The Lion King was in production, it was actually only a minor project for the studio. Their flagship film also in production at that time? Pocahontas. The best animators were on Eric Goldberg's feature film. The Lion King team operated in small numbers, so small that they were called “B Team” by others. This is also why it is Hans Zimmer who writes the music and not the star Alan Menken who was on the discovery of the new world made in Disney.
4/ The film had several nicknames
Indeed, the Lion King was not always called that. At the time of its production, it had several nicknames linked to its references, the best being “Bamblet”, a contraction of Bambi and Hamlet. A nickname that made the screenwriters who were inspired by these two works (and King Leo, but hey at the time, there was silence on that subject) laugh for The Lion King.
But the funniest thing is to know that The Lion King was originally supposed to be titled “The King of the Jungle”. And this until a person a little more courageous (or cultured, who knows) than the others dared to say in a meeting: “Um, just like that, lions are the savannah, right? in the jungle. Well, I say that?” (reconstructed dialogue that we hope is close to reality).
5/ Scar is a Nazi
Scar Nazi? Another exciting fun fact? Yet it's true. If Scar is not openly a clone of Hitler with a mane, he behaves like one and certain sequences concerning him are clearly inspired by Nazi imagery.
In the scene where he sings “Be ready” (a masterpiece sung/spoken by Jean Piat in French), the hyenas parade in front of him at a goose-step in a sort of remake of Triumph of the Will, a film by Nazi propaganda by Leni Riefenstahl. Better, when he says “Be ready”, some see in his shadow a (quickly?) replica of the Nazi eagle.
It must be said that he manages to convince the hyenas to follow him when they are at their worst, without any hope and particularly hungry. A bit like Hitler when he took power in a Germany then seriously in crisis.
6/ Jeremy Irons quotes himself
In the scene where Scar puts in Simba's mind the idea of going for a walk in the elephant cemetery, the young lion cub says to his uncle “How weird you are”, to which the latter, dubbed by Jeremy Irons responds, “You have no idea.” This little line is a reference to another film with Irons: The Von Bülow Mystery. In this 1990 Barbet Schroeder film, the actor plays Claus Von Bülow, a billionaire accused of attempting to murder his wife. His lawyer Alan Dershowitz then said to him: “What a strange man you are”, and Von Bülow, hidden in his limousine, replied: “You have no idea”.
7/ No lion roars in the film
“National Geographic” anecdote: the roars uttered by our lion friends in the film were not recorded from real lions. But tigers. Indeed, the roar of the latter would be louder – and therefore more cinegenic – than those of their maned counterparts. King of animals they say, huh?
8/ This scene almost never happened
Originally, once he died (there, there, it'll be okay, don't cry), Mufasa wasn't supposed to come back. But the creators thought it wouldn't be bad if Simba found him at some point, because it would emphasize his desire to return to his community. The scene was therefore the last to be animated because it was added to the script while the film was already in production.
9/ No sex but SFX
This controversy often resurfaces on the internet but it has little or no reason to exist. At one point in the film, Simba walks away and drops down on the edge of a cliff with a sigh of sadness. Dust flies up and, oh!, a word seems to form on the starry sky. And the word SEX appears! In a children's film! A Disney! what a shame… However, if fans of the conspiracy imagining Disney as a large company distributing subliminal porn messages still saw here as further proof of their allegations, this would not be the case.
According to the studios, it would not be written SEX in this cloud (plus, in real time, you really need to have good eyes or good reflexes on the pause button on the remote control to see that), but SFX. A way for the special effects team to pay homage to themselves in the film. Pixar is having fun doing it after all? Why not them?
10/ Sexual harassment: no for Disney
Fratricide: OK. Scar kills his brother. The grief and wandering of a small child: OK. Simba is a little boy when he becomes orphaned by his father and finds himself alone in the desert and the jungle. Inbreeding: OK. There are only two males in this tribe Scar and Mufasa. So when Nala and Simba decide to get together. At best, they are cousins, at worst they are half-brother and sister. But for Disney, sexual harassment is no. Perhaps, a trauma that would have made the bottle overflow according to Disney. Because, basically, Nala did not find Simba through a hazardous hunting session. No, she had been banished from the lion's land. For what ? For refusing Scar's strong advances in search of a queen. It would have been even more unhealthy since he has known Nala since she was born (and he is perhaps her father, too). But the film is progressive before its time: after all, isn't Simba raised by the mongoose Timon and the warthog Pumbaa, therefore a couple of the same sex and interracial?
Some bonus anecdotes
– Sean Connery was originally considered to play Mufasa.
– It is the biggest global video success: 55 million copies sold around the world. And the biggest success in terms of soundtrack for an animated film: 10 million records sold.
– It took 3 years to create the famous scene where the wildebeest rush into the canyon where Mufasa unfortunately meets his death.
– Pumbaa is the first Disney character to fart on screen. A good epitaph.
– James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair, Mufasa and Sarabi in original version, had already played a royal couple in the film A Prince in New York with Eddie Murphy.
– Scar makes a reappearance in another Disney: he is the skin of the Nemean Lion in Hercules.