I got in contact with a "Lion King II" producer

[MooLion]

Oh yeah, Zazu having a girlfriend sounds a really silly, unnecessary addition. Thank goodness they scrapped that.

[TheLionPrince]

Thanks for the responses. I really didn't want to share this because I didn't think it was useful information, but these are the other questions I asked:

1. Can you confirm the existence of a son character named Chaka? Was he still present in the early script when you signed on to produce "The Lion King II"? If so, what is his role in his story?

Her response was:

[quote] I have never been aware of a character named Chaka in The Lion King or the sequel. It may have been an early name for a character that was later changed. Originally there was going to be a son of Scar but Disney's CEO at the time, Michael Eisner, didn't like the idea of the son of Scar and the daughter of Simba getting together. Cousins. So the character became an adopted character or son of Scar's mate, Zira.
[/quote]

2. Why were the scenes in which Rafiki mentions "another cub" and when Nuka and Vitani report Kiara's presentation to Zira deleted?

Her response was:

[quote]Those scenes may have been deleted as the story was streamlined and subtle changes were made.[/quote]

3. In a "Simba's Pride" documentary, James Earl Jones is seen recording a line, "You have let your family break apart, and in doing so, you have broken the Circle of Life" for Mufasa. Does that mean Mufasa was going to have a ghostly visitation with Kiara? If so, why was that scene deleted from the film?

Her response was:

[quote]There is a lot of dialog that gets recorded for a film while its in the storyboarding phase. As the story comes into focus, some dialog is no longer relevant and is discarded. But, it never meant that Mufasa was going to have ghostly visitation from Kiara.[/quote]

Personally, I'm at odds with her first and third responses since director Darrell Rooney confirmed awhile ago that Zira was rewritten as a follower in a Facebook conversation. Also, a memo from Disney Catalog on the page of The Lion King II on lionking.org states "At night Kiara is visited by the spirit of Mufasa, who reminds Kiara of her obligation to her pride and her role in the circle of life." I was just hoping we could get deeper insight into this. Oh well.

[Gaze]

Awesome, thank you so much for sharing!
I wasn't aware of the concept of Mufasa visiting Kiara. I really wish we could get more information about that. Sounds like it could have been a decent scene.

[Tsuki]

Wow! Thanks for sharing all this . Yeh I recently found a Simba's Pride Disney Book in a charity store which states that Zira is Scar's mate and mentions that Nuka and Vitani reported back to Zira that Simba's new cub was a girl. But I also remember reading somewhere that a director mentioned that Zira was merely a follower of Scar and was not his mate.

I would have liked a scene where Mufasa visits Kiara or that he got a bigger scene in Simba's Pride. But I'm pleased they scraped Zazu's girlfriend. That would has been strange in my opinion.

[FlipMode]

I don't have much else to add to the actual conversations but wanted to say thanks for sharing, some interesting stuff.

[juhouh]

That was quite interesting information. I think TLK 2 is just better the way it is now

Thanks for sharing!

[Bloodspill]

Kiara and Mufasa's ghost scene? Wow...I don't know if I would enjoy this...sort of repetition. As far as Simba seeing his father's ghost was good, it wouldn't fit Kiara. It would look pretty disturbing for me, Kiara with this shocked, serious face, you know, eyes going out of skull and opened mouth...just no. But on the other hand I'd enjoy every outtake added back to the plot... SP was too short in my opinion.

I'm angry because of Kovu, Vitani and Nuka deleted scene. They could just cut the part when Zira is talking about her as a queen, the rest was alright. Everything to avoid the incest...
I guess we will never know if Zira was really Scar's mate. The people working on SP script were still changing, so there's a lot of different theories. No Disney man would admit she could be his mate, it would make all the controversy. Kovu and Kiara couldn't be cousins, so they had to remove all the scenes that would suggest something - but don't forget it was made in the late days of the production.
I think some of the creators deep inside sticked to the "old" unchanged version(s?) as some of us, fans does. But no one of them would admit it because of the obvious reasons. The director had his commentary on SP special edition cd and it was enough.

Of course it's great to read something like this one, it's cool when a fan is lucky enough to get in contact with the producer or other people. But unfortunately we won't get satisfying answers, old plans and the final version are completely different stories and they don't want to (or are not allowed to) mess up. Or tell something they are 100 % sure about.

But still I'm disappointed they removed all those scenes (except for Zazu's girlfriend). Literally, SP needed more Outlanders' scenes... And literally I'd LOVE to watch even more Rafiki's scenes than whole "oh Kovu this, oh Kiara that".

[TheLionPrince]

[quote="Bloodspill"]
I'm angry because of Kovu, Vitani and Nuka deleted scene. They could just cut the part when Zira is talking about her as a queen, the rest was alright. Everything to avoid the incest...
I guess we will never know if Zira was really Scar's mate. The people working on SP script were still changing, so there's a lot of different theories. No Disney man would admit she could be his mate, it would make all the controversy. Kovu and Kiara couldn't be cousins, so they had to remove all the scenes that would suggest something - but don't forget it was made in the late days of the production.
I think some of the creators deep inside sticked to the "old" unchanged version(s?) as some of us, fans does. But no one of them would admit it because of the obvious reasons. The director had his commentary on SP special edition cd and it was enough.[/quote]

A couple of years back, someone did manage to contact Darrell Rooney (the director of SP), and he cleared up that Zira was going to be Scar's mate, but the incestuous undertones between Kovu and Kiara forced the production team to rewrite her character into a follower.

Rooney.png (116.68 KiB) Viewed 2097 times

And you're right, we fans won't get to know everything. One thing that will provide deeper knowledge is if an early script leaks out on the Internet like those two early screenplays for The Lion King written in 1990 last year. Here's hoping...

[Bloodspill]

[quote]And you're right, we fans won't get to know everything. One thing that will provide deeper knowledge is if an early script leaks out on the Internet like those two early screenplays for The Lion King written in 1990 last year. Here's hoping...[/quote]

That would be great... I'd love to read an early script where Zira was supposed to be Bianca and hanging out with hyenas, if there was that kind of script. Or maybe it was just an idea, but that would be interesting.

[MooLion]

I haven't read the leaked scripts!

I'm glad they changed the name from Bianca to Zira as it didn't sound very in keeping with the other African-ish names.