"Mufasa: The Lion King" is both a sequel and a prequel to the animated classic "The Lion King". Simba has now got a son of his own and the monkey Rafiki tells him about how grandfather Mufasa becomes orphaned as a young one and is saved by the young lion Taka.
The two become friends and grow up together, but both's love for the lioness Nala drives them apart. In the end, Taka gets hurt and changes his name to Scar. Everyone who has seen the original will remember the continuation.
"Extreme close-ups"
Jenkins is known, among other things, for his close-ups, and there are plenty of those in "Mufasa" – when you see it in Imax, it sometimes feels like the lions are about to jump out of the screen. Jenkins laughs.
Yes, when they offered me this film, I said they had to let me use extreme close-ups and let the characters look straight at the audience. I felt it could elevate the emotional scenes.
"Mufasa" contains a lot of action, and in Sweden, it has been given an 11-year age limit. But Jenkins does not agree that his film would be much more violent than other animated films.
But there are some scenes where lions fight, and it's based on how it looks when real lions fight. It's like watching two cats fight, only they're much bigger.
Much of the dialogue is improvised. The voice came first, the animation later.
Of course, the voice actors worked separately, alone in a studio, but at the same time, we could connect them from different places in the world so that we could record them simultaneously.
"An iconic villain"
The villain Kiros' voice comes from Mads Mikkelsen.
Mads is at a point in his career where he is an iconic villain. But Kiros also has a view of the world that is interesting. And Mads' voice is so interesting.
The film is about love, family, friendship – but also politics, when Mufasa in the end unites different animals to fight together against the foreign lions led by Kiros. This after some animals said "it's not our fight". It's easy to see parallels to how some American politicians view Ukraine.
Yes, but it's not just about the US. It's about the whole world, it's about not locking yourself into your own tribe.
Age: 45 years
Family: Fiancée Lulu Wang
Lives: Los Angeles
Occupation: Director, producer, and screenwriter
Has previously directed: "Moonlight", "If Beale Street could talk", "The Underground Railroad" and more
Currently with: "Mufasa: The Lion King", with Swedish cinema premiere on December 18.
