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JUST UNCOVERED - Jane Leeves was to voice BINTI!

PostPosted: November 28th, 2011, 8:11 am
by Noah
So I just discovered a wonderful bit of information about Simba's Pride while combing through Google News Archives and I just had to share it with everyone. Apparently Binti (Zazu's deleted girlfriend) was to be voiced by actress Jane Leeves! You may know her from "Fraiser" or "Hot in Cleveland". Here's a video of her if you don't know what she looks or sounds like. It also says what Binti's personality was to be: flirtatious. Zazu you got lucky! I found it in an San Antonio newspaper from 1996. The link is here, but I bought the article and it's posted below. Enjoy!! :D

[quote="The April 12, 1996 edition of the San Antonio Express"]LOS ANGELES - It's considered the norm in Hollywood when TV actors want to extend their talents to the big screen.

British actress Jane Leeves, who plays flirtatious domestic Daphne Moon on NBC's hit sitcom, "Frasier," really spreads her wings for the transition. Leeves brings vocal life to the matronly Ladybug character in Disney's animated adventure "James and the Giant Peach."

After joking that she's very much a method actress who "lived with a ladybug for a month to get into character," Leeves said that the key was finding a voice within herself to match the kindly demeanor of a character she could only create vocally. "I gave the sketches to friends of mine and I sat them down and I said 'OK, just tell me when it sounds right,' " Leeves said

She also has a personal connection to the literature. "It happened to be my youngest sister's favorite, favorite book. That was another attraction to doing this. I used to read it to her," Leeves said. "She was more thrilled than anyone when I got this because she has children now. That's the whole thing about being a Disney character - my nieces and nephews think I'm somebody."

Her relatives may just be discovering what American TV audiences have known ever since "Frasier" hit the air. After leaving her fledgling British acting and dancing career behind in 1984, Leeves has found stardom in the states. And she's done it by steadfastly holding onto her English accent. She landed a small part in the 1985 big-screen crime drama "To Live and Die in LA". But Leeves found her real niche on the small screen.

Leeves brings voice to a flirtatious bird named Binti in the upcoming sequel to "The Lion King." She obviously loves creating someone completely different.

She got a bonus in "James and the Giant Peach" when she got to sing. "Going to the recording session and Randy Newman being there was kind of daunting. I thought, `Here he is, this brilliant songwriter. He's written these beautiful songs, which I'm about to kill,' " Leeves said. Newman turned out to be "sweet" and "so much fun." He even offered Leeves a bit of singing advice when she boldly asked the good- natured, Oscar-nominated, Grammy-award winner. "I said, `So any pointers here for me at this point, Randy?' And he said, `Uh, just one. Get the s--- out of your singing.' "[/quote]

I love that story about Randy Newman at the bottom. :lol:

Re: JUST UNCOVERED - Jane Leeves was to voice BINTI!

PostPosted: November 28th, 2011, 1:42 pm
by cleargreenwater
....DAPHNE!

Pretty amazing that they got so far ahead with these 2 characters, and yet, I am massively thankful they curtailed/axed the need to pair off every unattached/single character they could. One of the *most* endearing things about Zazu in the first movie is what an entirely loyal to the lions little bugger he was, giving him a girlfriend and dual loyalties like that would detract from the integrity of the original character for me.

Re: JUST UNCOVERED - Jane Leeves was to voice BINTI!

PostPosted: November 28th, 2011, 1:54 pm
by VitaniOutsider
Cool! I wish they put her in. :(

Re: JUST UNCOVERED - Jane Leeves was to voice BINTI!

PostPosted: November 28th, 2011, 1:55 pm
by AdAstrα
As interesting as this was to read, I personally am very glad that they didn't include Binti in the film. I can't picture Zazu having a girlfriend. It'd just be cheesy IMO.

Re: JUST UNCOVERED - Jane Leeves was to voice BINTI!

PostPosted: November 28th, 2011, 11:07 pm
by TheLionPrince
Again, Noah, another interesting tidbit of information.

Also, Noah, what's with these websites? Why do readers have to pay money to read the information about the article? I'm just wondering!

Re: JUST UNCOVERED - Jane Leeves was to voice BINTI!

PostPosted: November 29th, 2011, 1:00 am
by Noah
[quote="TheLionPrince"]Again, Noah, another interesting tidbit of information.

Also, Noah, what's with these websites? Why do readers have to pay money to read the information about the article? I'm just wondering![/quote]

It's all a business. Companies like NewsBank and ProQuest Archiver buy rights to newspaper archives and digitally convert them and sell the rights to access them. You subscribe and get charged depending on what your payment plan is: per year, per month, per day, or per article. I work part time for the research division of a law firm. Clients hire investigators to find all the information they can about anything: people, residents, vehicles, etc. I'm basically a go-to-guy for the investigators, crosschecking archives against whatever information they provide me. They let us use their resources for personal use, provided it isn't on the company's time. :glee:

Re: JUST UNCOVERED - Jane Leeves was to voice BINTI!

PostPosted: November 30th, 2011, 4:16 am
by SimbasGuard
Amazing find Noacs, Thank you so much for sharing that with us.