The Lion King Hans Zimmer & Lebo M On the Films Classic Score

The Lion King: Hans Zimmer & Lebo M. On the Film’s Classic Score

Composers Hans Zimmer and Lebo M. revealed what it was like to be a part of the new Lion King, 25 years after they helped make the original film.

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The Lion King Hans Zimmer & Lebo M On the Films Classic Score

Twenty-five years ago, Hans Zimmer and Lebo M helped to create one of the most iconic movie soundtracks of all time, with Disney’s 1994 animated classic The Lion King. Since then, Zimmer has become one of the biggest composers in Hollywood, while Lebo has lent his talents to the Broadway production of The Lion King. They both returned returned to help score director Jon Favreau’s remake, and to make sure it kept true to the spirit of the original.

During a press conference in Los Angeles attended by CBR, Zimmer and Lebo reminisced about what brought them to the project in the first place, and the method by which they recorded the modern score.

The Lion King Hans Zimmer & Lebo M On the Films Classic Score

Most films scores are recorded in a single room, with only the crew and orchestra present. But The Lion King took a different path that began with a concert.

“We ended up dragging an orchestra and a choir out to Coachella and doing Lion King live,” Zimmer said. “There was an energy about the performance, about doing it that way, that moved Jon [Faverau], and really, honestly, it moved me too. It was really great seeing these musicians playing it as a piece of music as opposed to having to be specific about a film cue.

“So, I said to Jon, ‘Why don’t we do it like this? Why don’t we get the greatest players in the world, get them to LA, rehearse them for two days and then really make it like it was a concert?’ We invited all the filmmakers that never get to go to the scoring sessions, the DP, the editor. We stood them in front of the orchestra. Now [the orchestra] had an audience, so they had to go for it.

“The way [The Lion King] sounds, it’s partly because the entire orchestra, this is different than how most movies are scored, everyone in this very special orchestra, everyone knew this movie,” Zimmer continued. “So every note was played with attention. Every note was played with commitment. That ultimately helped everyone. They weren’t just people reading music off the paper, they knew the material. Jon is a very good director, but there’s one thing he’s constantly bringing to the table. He has a huge heart, and it constantly resonates through the music.”

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“If you want to talk about the origins of it,” Zimmer recalled, “at the very beginning … I wanted to make a Disney movie that started off as a voice from Africa. And that’s what we found in Lebo. Something shifted … I was inviting [the audience] on this journey, that was all I was trying to do. Just come along, feel this mother continent and don’t ever forget this continent.”

Lebo said that, “Coming back to The Lion King, it’s easier to say I never left. The greatest gift is the ability to reenter a journey that’s been a part of your life for 25 years.”

The political climate in South Africa was tenuous during the production of the original film, due to the final days of the Apartheid. That actually had an impact on the production of the score, which was largely done in South Africa.

“When we did the original one,” Zimmer recalled, “it was [challenging] with the political climate in South Africa. It was very, very tricky. It was so tricky, I had a producer who wouldn’t let me go for those last sessions so Lebo had to go by himself. Disney had a meeting, ‘who would finish the movie after Hans is killed?’ And I was appalled they wouldn’t let me go.”

“For a while, I thought it was just a set-up from Hans,” Lebo joked. “When [the original Lion King] came out, we were busy trying to shut down the South African embassy in Beverly Hills. I was one of the rebels, and this movie came up after we finished another movie called Power of One. Literally, as the transition from the old Africa and the new Africa was in the process.

“Everything Hans said was true. The day we were recording this thing, there were arrests and all sorts of things in South Africa,” Lebo continued. “Hans calls me in, and this is the first time since I left [South Africa] as an exile when I was 16 … I came in the room and there are nine white people, and Hans was one of them. Because of everything with The Power of One and everything else, I thought I was going to be arrested. But it turns out I’m sitting in a room. I look at Hans and he tells me a little bit about the movie. I’m always bringing a couple of singers because I know when I get a call about something that’s creative that I’m going to do with Hans … we have a [specific] way of working.

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“Then I see these little drawings, and I’m preparing to leave but I can feel these little [musical beats] in my head, and then I see this drawing of Mufasa,” Lebo said. “Just as I’m about to leave, I turn back and go, ‘Let me try one more thing.'” Lebo then burst out the opening lyrics to “Circle of Life,” one of the most famous musical moments in the entire Disney canon. “It was a demo, so it was a recording.”

“I went back to South Africa to be a part of the new democracy, and when I came back … we tried it a couple of other things, but none of them worked,” Lebo said. “What you hear in the film is the original one take. One take, 25 years later, and how blessed can one person be… I was watching the movie, and thinking that one take we did was so natural, it’s going to outlive the previous 25 years. It was really hard for me to say I’m returning to The Lion King. I’m just so happy to be part of a global community that Hans gave me the chance to be a part of and to build something that I’ve lived with for the last 23 years on Broadway.

“So I came back for this one, and now I’m used to white people,” he said. “I come into the room, and there’s Favreau, and I’m like ‘OK.’ There’s Hans, I come over to him because he’s my white person. But when Faverau started the meeting, what really touched me was when Jon said, ‘We’re never going to compromise the authenticity of the original work,’ and that is so true. Because not only does the new movie hold true to the original [animated] movie, but also remain true and respectful to the Broadway production. And I’m truly grateful, as a South African and an African and an American, because I grew up here… to be a part of this amazing journey. And [Hans and I] still aren’t tired of each other. We’ll fight and make up, but I get to sit here now and say I am truly blessed to have a brother.”

Directed by Jon Favreau, The Lion King features the voices of Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver, Florence Kasumba, Eric André, Keegan-Michael Key, JD McCrary, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and James Earl Jones.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/lion-king-hans-zimmer-lebo-m-interview/

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