1. Seth Rogen sings horribly and it stressed the hell out of Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams produced a lot of the songs on the soundtrack, and was also hired to be Seth’s vocal coach (aka Pumba’s coach), which according to Seth, was not a good idea. “I literally had Pharrell banging his head against a wall trying to extract a good note out of me,” Seth said. “I’m like ‘someone less famous would actually be more helpful.’ It’s like the last thing I need is like ‘oh so you have to learn to ride a motorcycle, we have Evel Knievel here to teach you’ Like I don’t want that, just give me a guy!”
2. The entire cast was nervous to work with Beyonce
Billy Eichner, who voices Timon, said that the first time he met Beyonce he was with Seth Rogen and neither one of them wanted to say hello out of fear. “We were backstage before they announced the cast, and Seth and I were the first to arrive, and the next to arrive happened to be Beyonce and Jay-Z. Seth and I were very shy and didn’t know whether we were allowed to approach her, or whether she wanted to talk to us.”
Seth Rogen explained he was “wary of going near her, because I look like someone who you would want to keep away from Beyonce in general.” Which, good point. So he waited for her to approach him. “She was very nice, and my beard actually got stuck in her sequins a bit,” he said. Classic Seth Rogen (I assume).
3. Speaking of Beyonce…
Disney released a promotional picture of the entire cast before the movie came out, but as it turns out, Queen Bey, who voices Nala, was photoshopped in. And all things considered, that was probably a good thing, since John Oliver, who plays Zazu in the film, said that even the “future presence” of the star was “intimidating.
“I looked down and there was just this piece of tape on the floor with Beyonce’s name written on it,” he told late-night TV host Stephen Colbert. “And literally it was like an electrical reaction, just going ‘oh, f**.’ So if you look at my face in there, I look really intimidated, and that’s because what I’m doing is imagining that I am about to be put into a photo with Beyonce one day.” Makes sense.
4. Billy Eichner voiced Timon as gay
The actor told Buzzfeed he was happy director John Favreau “kept the tradition of Timon being played by a gay actor.” He didn’t think about Timon being gay as much as well, he is gay, and he wasn’t going to act like he isn’t. “I thought, ‘well, I’m gay, and I have what some may consider a gay sensibility, and I’m going to bring that to the table.’”
And no, he doesn’t think Pumba was clapping Timon’s
5. The reviews have been less than kind
With a humble 55% on Rotten
“Scrunch your eyes up, put your hands over your ears and you could be watching an uncharacteristically boring nature documentary on the BBC,” wrote Donald Clarke, Irish Times.
“While not the dead-eyed stare of The Polar Express, every time a creature delivers a line it’s like watching an actor with too much Botox: The lips are moving, but the face isn’t telling you anything,” –Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle.
And my personal favorite, “Simply animating things that were already animated using a different animation technique is Apple-level fanbase abuse.” –Ryan Syrek, The Reader.
