‘I wanted to play Scar, not sing songs in a kids’ movie’: ‘The Lion King’ prequel star probably should have read the small print

If Disney has its way – which hopefully it doesn’t – then The Lion King will continue to evolve and expand to the same level as Star Wars, which would sound ludicrous if those weren’t the exact words uttered by the guy who tends to oversee the majority of the studio’s live-action remakes.

Following up Jon Favreau’s live-action blockbuster was cynical enough as it was, but well over $1.5 billion at the box office is going to embolden the Mouse House to squeeze just a little more juice out of a cash cow however it can. Prequel Mufasa: The Lion King comes to theaters next summer, but the actor bringing his vocal talents to Scar is a lot more interested in the character side of things than the song-and-dance numbers.

That’s a touch ironic in itself when Kelvin Harrison Jr. has made a number of musically-inclined movies already including Chevalier, Cyrano, Elvis, and The High Note, but he revealed to Total Film that wasn’t his main driving force behind tackling the part previously brought to life by Jeremy Irons and Chiwitel Ejiofor.

“I wanted to play Scar not to sing songs in a kids’ movie, but I wanted to play Scar the character. The characters get me going. Barry Jenkins gets me going – the directors, characters, and writers make me excited. And then if they are, they’re the ones that are interested in music all the time. They’re the crazy ones.”

Make no mistake; Harrison Jr. will indeed be singing songs in a kids’ movie, but you’d better remember that wasn’t why he boarded Mufasa: The Lion King in the first place, although it’ll be easily forgiven if he knocks his performance out of the park.