My Lion King Forum

Not really a huge piece and I think it's almost not worth starting a thread over, but I guess it's an interesting little footnote. According to this little article, Eddie Murphy was originally considered for the role of Timon (although whether that included the originally scripted South African accent is unclear) before Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella impressed everyone with their in-studio chemistry.

Thoughts? If anything, my two takeaways are:

• they wanted to get the whole Zamunda royal family involved in this film (get it, because Africa)
• this really makes me wish the new version had gone ahead and cast Trevor Noah. (No, I will never not be sore about this. The very least they can do now is have him voice a Lion Guard character.)

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/239944 ... -lion-king

Trever Noah.....eh. He’s not funny, and he’s a bit dull.

I mean, sure, John Oliver works with the same quality of scripts on his show but he has better acting chops and comedic timing.

He’s likely the best replacement we have for Rowen Atkinson.


As for Eddie Murphey playing Timon, who would have played Pumbaa? Arsenio Hall?

I am not the biggest fan of the whole "cast a famous actor for their voice" kind of deal. Don't get me wrong, I think they chose correctly in the movie, but that has A LOT to do with the fact that the characters were made as much around the actors as the actors were voicing the characters. But like the whole race issue with the "live action" remake:

Can't they just cast a voice actor... for their voice?

AKA, I am not sure how well Eddie Murphy would work as Timon. Can I see it happening? Yes. But I think Nathan Lane did a more than adequate job for his role. Plus, since there is the whole Timon-Pumbaa dynamic, you can't simply go for one actor, you need two to work together, like Lane and Ernie Sabella did.

I think it’s because it’s strange to hear a bunch of African animals talk like they’re either a bunch of yankees or brits or various non-African accents.

That, and I can’t imagine how hard it must be for someone with an African accent to land a role in a hollywood movie. It’s already hard enough for a black person without a thick accent to do so.

This movie was tailor made for them.


(I still think Trevor Noah would play a lousy zazu)

I find Trevor Noah to be an insightful political comedian/commentator; his stuff on African (specifically South African) politics is hilarious and actually provides for a pretty decent intro course to contemporary South African politics, especially if you watch all of his specials in order. Admittedly, he's not necessarily the greatest at working with scripted stuff for his show, but his unscripted behind-the-scenes takes show him to be pretty witty and insightful even in discussing American culture, or at least I find informed foreign opinions on American culture very interesting.

I don't think Noah would make for a good Zazu (even though he [half-]jokingly lamented John Oliver being cast over him for the role). My whole thing has always been that the live-action remake should embrace the whole African-ness of its setting and voice casting by putting in more African-accented characters, and in the original Lion King script (back when Scar was a massive dumb brute unrelated to the Ndona Pride), Timon was written specifically to sound like a young guy with a "spritely Johannesburg township" accent. Being that Noah's a popular South African comedian who is from the biggest township in Johannesburg (Soweto is to Johannesburg what Harlem is to New York City, especially during Apartheid) and grew up during the cultural period that the accent and character was referencing, it seemed like too perfect of a fit.

Elton John wrote:s for Eddie Murphey playing Timon, who would have played Pumbaa? Arsenio Hall?

Maybe the guy who played the royal butler in Coming to America. He did have a comedically over-the-top singing bit in that film, and he and Murphy were pretty funny against each other even though they didn't share much screen time.

he is insightful. I just don’t think he’s funny or a good actor.

Who would I cast as Zazu? After watching Cap CW and Black Panther I think Chadwick Boseman would make a great Zazu but...he’s a king. Going from the richest king on the planet to a hornbill majordomo would be a large downgrade.

Then I thought about Michael Jai White. I mean I love Black Dynamite, who doesn’t?

Then I thought about Samuel L Jackson. He has been in many Disney movies, and he has the acting chops + charisma to play some sort of role.

I still think if they had to replace James Earl Jones i’d go with Denzel.

I'll have to read that article at some point.

I have to agree, while Eddie Murphy is a great actor he would not have been the right fit for Timon

Like DGFone said for Timon and Pumbaa you need two actors with the right chemistry to play off of each other to make the characters work.

I'm not a huge fan of Timon to be honest. same with Pumba both of them just aren't very funny to me.

Scarthetrueking wrote::disgust4: I'm not a huge fan of Timon to be honest. same with Pumba both of them just aren't very funny to me.

Im with you there they are my least favorit characters, and I think they take up too much of the spot light

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.


Sorry, but that'd be hilarious.