The wheels of time often move slowly when it comes to putting together a high-budget, high-stakes Disney animated film. And that caused a problem after Disney booked Atlanta actor Braelyn Rankins more than three years ago to voice the young Mufasa in the new “Mufasa: The Lion King” prequel.
During the middle of doing voice sessions, Rankins’ voice began to change. He had to struggle with sounding like his younger self to the point his younger sister, Brielle, came in and aped her brother’s voice on his behalf for some of the lines.
“I was cracking left and right,” said Rankins, now 17, during an interview at the new Atlanta Journal-Constitution offices in Midtown earlier this week.
The new “Mufasa: The Lion King” film, which uses photo-realistic computer-generated imagery to create a realistic feel similar to the 2019 remake, comes out in theaters Dec. 20.
The film honors the late James Earl Jones, who played the original Mufasa but died this past September at age 93. British actor Aaron Pierre (“Rebel Ridge,” “Underground Railroad”) takes over for Jones in the new film, which provides an origin story for Mufasa and his relationship with Taka, who became the devious lion Scar by the time the original “Lion King” story happened.
Mufasa did not come from royal blood. He was actually an orphan who was adopted by Taka’s family. Taka, in fact, was supposed to be the heir. He and Taka (future Scar) became stepbrothers and grew quite close before a perceived betrayal or two permanently scarred their relationship.
Pierre was well aware of the shoes he had to fill playing Mufasa.
“James Earl Jones is iconic, he’s majestic, he’s magical, he’s timeless” said Pierre in an interview with the AJC at the Four Seasons in Midtown earlier this month. “I was nervous to embrace and contribute to the legacy of that character. It took me weeks to find Mufasa’s voice at this juncture in this life.”
Kelvin Harrison Jr. (“Elvis,” “Chevalier”) took on the role of the young Taka, previously voiced by Jeremy Irons in 1994 and Chiwetel Ejiofor in 2019.
“Jeremy’s work is so spectacular and mesmerizing and very decadent,” Harrison said. “Chiwetel brought a more intimate version of Scar we hadn’t seen before.”
At first, Harrison admitted, “I tried to copy and paste Jeremy Irons” but he then hummed the MC Hammer song “U Can’t Touch This.”
“I had to find Taka’s youthfulness using a higher pitch,” Harrison said. “I brought in Joffrey from ‘Game of Thrones.’ I had to find that spicy tension.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Both Pierre and Harrison were born the year “The Lion King” first came out and saw the movie as children on VHS.
“I was probably 2 or 3,” Pierre said. “Subconsciously, I felt my heritage was being celebrated. My mother is Jamaican. My father is of West African descent and Caribbean heritage and I saw the continent of Africa being championed, being uplifted. I heard the music of that continent. That’s why that was a favorite film of mine at the time.”
“I’m not as deep as him,” Harrison said. “I was playing with blocks and singing ‘Hakuna Matata.’ I just loved the video game on Sega Genesis. There was a part where he is wanting to be king and I was trying to jump on each giraffe head and kept falling.”
The songs for “Mufasa: The Lion King” were written by “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“He’s the Maxwell of the Pride Lands,” said Harrison, of his colleague Pierre.
“That’s a lie!” Pierre scoffed. “Kelvin’s work is always beautiful. He has an extensive musical background from New Orleans as we saw in ‘Chevalier.’ This is no different in regards to the bar he reaches and exceeds in this picture. He crushed it!”
“Lin-Manuel Miranda pitched the songs so high!” Harrison said. “The key was insane. I’m a baritone. He said, ‘You’re a tenor today.’ It was a struggle. I had a lot of vocal lessons to get my voice up there. I had to be the D’Angelo of the Pride Lands.”
One of the most memorable songs on the soundtrack was actually sung by Rankins as the young child version of Mufasa early in the film called “I Always Wanted a Brother.”
“It was so catchy,” Rankins said. “But I couldn’t sing it in public until the soundtrack came out on the 13th. I’d love to do it live.”
IF YOU GO
“Mufasa: The Lion King,” available in area theaters starting Dec. 20
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