Emmanuel Kwesiga
May 3, 2024
min
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Blue Ivy Carter Lands Voice Role Alongside Her Mother Beyoncé In The Lion King Prequel Mufasa: The Lion King

Barry Jenkins on his chronicles with the souls and folk within the African diaspora as a dream come true through the prequel. 
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‍The 2019 hyper-realistic remake of the 1994 original LionKing which was an animated version of the screen production saw Beyoncé Knowles up do such an excellent job with the voice role of Queen Nala.

In this prequel, Beyoncé’s 12-year-old daughter Blue Ivy Carter joins the voice cast to play Kiara who in the story is the daughter of King Simba a role voiced by Donald Glover and Queen Nala her mother Beyoncé.

Beyoncé will in this prequel still hold her role just as she did in the 2019 remake which unlike the 1994 animated picture was a photorealistic film. In the up coming “Mufasa: The Lion King,” the star will retain the role of Queen Nala in the new version directed by Barry Jenkins renown for the making of “Moonlight”. And this version will dive deep into Mufasa’s origin story and examine closely the relationship with his childhood brother Taka also referred to as Scar.

Just like the life-like motion pictures and action in the 2019 film, this one too will not be short of any of that high-end good stuff.

One of the most interesting things that happened leading towards the casting of Blue Ivy was mentioned by Jenkins who in an interview on the “Good Morning America” show where the movie’s trailer also first aired revealed that Ivy’s approach was professional while Beyoncé her mom was on there first as a mum and it totally would make sense for the two creatives as Ivy is in fact the daughter of Beyoncé.

Jenkins added, “They just approached it that they both wanted to perform and do the best they could. And yet, they didn't have to pretend very much because they really are mother and daughter.”

This may be Blue Ivy’s debut film role but it is worth noting that she has performed with her mother as a dancer in various places including her latest live performance tour.

The Lion King and the African Diaspora.

The Lion King film which will be released this December is a huge celebration of the African diaspora and Jenkins hints on it in one of his interviews. The film with such a significant number of folk from the African diaspora is a sign of its cultural significance therein.

“Helping my sister raise two young boys during the ’90s, I grew up with these characters. Having the opportunity to work with Disney on expanding this magnificent tale of friendship, love and legacy while furthering my work chronicling the lives and souls of folk within the African diaspora is a dream come true,” Jenkins said of the prequel.

In addition to Blue Ivy, many of the actors and actresses will be reprising in this one too. Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, John Kani as Rafiki, Donald Glover as Simba, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as Nala, Billy Eichner as Timon.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is working on the film’s songs and these are being produced by himself and Mark Mancina. Various performances from Tim Rice, Beau Black, Hans Zimmer, Beyoncé, Labrinth, Ford Riley, Ilya Salmanzadeh and so many other musical contributors.

In a statement, Miranda mentioned “It’s been a joy working alongside Barry Jenkins to bring Mufasa’s story to life, and we can’t wait for audiences to experience this film in theaters.”

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