This December, Disney is bringing “Mufasa: The Lion King” to cinemas around the world.  The film calls on Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone, until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny—their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe. 

Recently, I got to speak with the film’s composer, Dave Metzger, about his work on the film, including sharing his thoughts on the pressure of working on a franchise he’s spent decades working on.

What was your biggest highlight working on “Mufasa”?

Oh my goodness, Roger. It was such an amazing experience all around. If I had to say the best things, there’s so many. My gosh. Let’s see. Honestly, working with Barry Jenkins, the director, was really an amazing experience. I don’t know that I was fully prepared for because he is such an amazing storyteller and filmmaker obviously. But what he really did that I appreciated was he pulled things out of me that I had not really done before. So he led me down paths musically that I wouldn’t have instinctually gone down.

It was just his encouragement and his really direction is what it was of challenging me in a good way to try new things and look at a couple of scenes a little differently. And I’d say that was probably the most memorable new experience for me. I’d also like to add in there working with Lebo. I’ve known Lebo for 30 years, and he’s a really great friend, and we’ve been through a lot of things together, but that is always a joyful experience, and he’s such an amazing talent and person. So those are the two things, just off the top of my head, the two highlights of the project.

Where did your inspiration for the sound of “Mufasa” come from?

Well, first of all, I think the obvious inspiration is the original Lion King. And one of the cool things about this project for me was getting a chance to utilize some of Hans Zimmer’s iconic themes.  I’d say out of a hundred minutes of score altogether, and there’s about 18 minutes of it that is music from Hans’s themes.

But those themes are so amazing and iconic, and I would like to have a chance to put those into a new setting. If I hadn’t done that right, it would’ve been doing a disservice to the film because “Mufasa” is so much a part of the “Lion King” world, and so I have to do that. But the other part of the inspiration is working with Barry, he was very specific that he wanted to have this be its own movie, so it wasn’t just like a remake of the “Lion King”.

And so because of that, then wanting to have new themes and have it have its own identity. So that was one of the cool things for me, is I got to write then a whole bunch of new music and new themes for the new characters, some new themes for some of the old characters that maybe hadn’t had their own themes before. And to have a chance to stretch my legs musically in that regard too. And all the while, make it all sound like it is in the universe of “The Lion King”, which has been a big part of my life for 28 years or something like that at this point.

The songs are a major part of any Disney movie. How did you incorporate them into your score?

That was actually probably the trickiest part of the whole thing for me was how much is too much of the original music. And I think, in my opinion, I felt like we ended up with a pretty nice balance because the way I looked at it, too, was the beginning of the film. I really wanted to establish that we’re in the world of Lion King, so there’s more of it there.

At the end of the film, I don’t want to spoil anything, but we may revisit some things from before. And so I really wanted to finish strong with those original themes. But it’s kind of like a bookmark when you see it, you’ll see the way that the story and the plot are laid out. You very much have a beginning of middle, which is quite large, the exposition and then an end. So I wanted to bookmark the beginning and the end, which was going to be where we’re going to hear the majority of the original music.

And the middle though is mostly new material. But also part of the fun thing for me was finding those little moments to dip in a little bit to the original, just so that if Mufasa is in a heroic moment, we’re going to hear Mufasa’s theme in that spot. But it really, honestly, It really was the challenge.  Barry wanted very much to be an original musical event as well. And like I said, there was about 18 minutes of original music from the original film, and then that would leave what a balance of 82 minutes of new material. So the vast majority of it is actually new themes, new material.

How do you balance making the soundtrack for the series feel new but also similar to the previous films?

That’s another great point of the challenge of a film like this being a musical, and I’m very much a student of historical musicals, so you properly done a score, has to quote themes from the songs, you can’t ignore the songs, and that’s doing a disservice. And it’s all part of building the continuity of the film if you don’t do that. So I utilize the themes from, “I always Wanted a Brother” to me, in moments where Mufasa and Taka are having their development of their relationship, I would quote that song in those moments.

And as the film evolves, I start to twist a little bit and so that it builds some depth to their relationship, but it has that continuity. Then, songs and score. Another example would be Kiros, who is the villain, and he has his own song. And so whenever we’ll see Kiros, not whenever, but occasionally when we see Kiros, I’ll quote from that song from, “bye-bye”, and I’ll drop in that again. It’s all part of, that’s the responsibility of the composer, which is the way that I see working on a musical. And if you aren’t doing it, you really are not doing it right.

Did you feel more pressure to create the soundtrack for Mufasa since it’s now in its 2019 version?

I got to say. And I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve gotten old enough, the pressure doesn’t really bother me anymore. It’s kind of interesting that 20 years ago I would’ve been terrified, but I think at this point I kind of realized, well, they hired me for a reason. They brought me in because I hopefully will add something to this, and so I should embrace that. And just, I’m a big believer, too; if you do the best you can, that’s all you can ask for. I feel like I did the best that I could, and I looked at it as a wonderful opportunity to get a chance to work on a film of this scope. And with this, I mean really, it’s, you can’t kind of top it, right? “Mufasa” is really about as good as it gets. And so I was just very thankful and appreciative of being brought to the party, and I really didn’t feel any pressure. I just sort of felt like it’s all going to be fine, and hopefully, people will enjoy it. And I know I had a great time working on it.

“Mufasa: The Lion King” is out now in cinemas and will be coming to Disney+ in 2025.

Have you checked out “Mufasa: The Lion King”?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

View all posts