You follow me! Old Rafiki knows the way!

What's your favourite Lion King line? Let me know in the comment section below! This is obective number one in my list of things to cover from my last Authors note that I posted. So, let's get to it! This fact page contains facts from all three movies.

HAKUNA MATATA! 

"When he was a young worthog....

WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WORTHOOOOOOOG!" 

Fact #1771 

According to “The Making of The Lion King,” the original opening scene featured a dialog introducing most of the main characters, but directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff scrapped it when they heard the final version of “Circle of Life.”

Fact #1772 

The first script featured Scar as a lone lion, unrelated to Simba, who was in charge of a pack of vicious baboons. In this version, Rafiki was written as a cheetah and Timon and Pumbaa were both friends with Simba from the start.

Fact #1773 

Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, who played Timon and Pumbaa, originally auditioned to be hyenas. "They came to an audition in New York and they bumped into each other in the lobby, which is when they discovered they were both auditioning for the roles of hyenas," director Rob Minkoff said. "They asked the casting director if they could audition together and they were hilarious as they read their lines, but they didn’t seem right for the hyenas. That’s when we thought, ‘What if we use them as Timon and Pumbaa?’ It was the perfect fit.” Cheech Marin and Whoopi Goldberg were cast as the hyenas instead.

Fact #1774 

After Simba’s first encounter with the hyenas, the film was supposed to feature a lullaby sung by Sarabi called “The Lion in the Moon,” which was about a protective lion spirit.

Fact #1775 

According to the film's press notes, the wildebeest stampede scene took Disney CGI animators more than two years to create and involved writing a new computer program to govern the movements of the herd.

Fact #1776 

Wildlife expert Jim Fowler brought real African animals like hornbills and lions at different stages of life into the Disney studio to serve as figure models for the team of animators working on the film.

Fact #1777 

A number of characters developed for the film were written completely out of the script, including a tagalong little brother for Nala named Mheetu (who Simba was originally supposed to save from the stampede) and another friend of Nala’s named Bhati—a wise-cracking bat-eared fox. There was also, at one point, a lizard named Iggy, and another meerkat named Tesma (a mopey relative of Timon); the hyenas had originally been written as cape hunting dogs.

Fact #1778 

“Hakuna Matata” originally had an extra verse in which Timon explained his difficulty fitting in with other meerkats.

Fact #1779 

The original final fight sequence had Simba losing to Scar, though Scar then died in a fire.

Fact #1780 

Matthew Broderick (voice of Adult Simba) first thought he was going to be working on a remake of a 1960s Japanese anime show called Kimba the White Lion when he read the script, though Disney has denied any connection between the two projects.

Fact #1781 

Simba says to his uncle Scar 'You're so weird!' To which Scar replied: 'You have no idea.' Jeremy Irons (the voice of Scar) gave this same response in the 1990 film 'Reversal of Fortune'.

Fact #1782 

"Bug football," a scene that was cut from the movie, showed the carefree "Hakuna Matata" lifestyle of Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba. Timon makes an "interception" of a large, juicy bug from Simba and runs towards the end zone doing his own play-by-play. He stops and throws a "bug bomb" pass to Pumbaa, who proceeds to eat the "ball."  Now you can see it as a bonus feature on the DVD.

Fact #1783 

The scene where King Mufasa's ghost appears to Simba was the last scene created for the movie. In the original script, Mufasa died and never reappeared. But the producers decided that Simba really needed to see his father again, so they created the scene with Mufasa's ghost.

Fact #1784 

In the credits for The Lion King 1 1/2, they misspelled Zazu's name.

Fact #1785 

In the original script (which was started 2-3 years before Simba's Pride was released) there were no Outlanders. It was only Zira (then known as Bianca), Kovu, and the three hyenas. In this script, Kovu was Scar's son. This was changed because if Zira was Scar's mate, then why would she team up with the hyenas, who killed Scar. They also had to change the fact of Kovu being Scar's son because that would make Kovu and Kiara second cousins.

Fact #1786 

At the end climax of the film, Zira was originally supposed to commit suicide. This was only changed towards the very end of production.

Fact #1787 

In the scene during Be Prepared where Scar is watching his hyenas march, it was actually inspired by an image of Adolf Hitler watching a Nazi Procession.

Fact #1788 

In a earlier script draft, and hinted in the broadway musical that Scar wanted to be in a relationship with Nala after Simba left. For the original script, he reason an adult Nala wandered so far from Pride Rock was supposed to be because Scar had banished her for ignoring his romantic advances.

Fact #1789 

"Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" was original supposed to be a comic duet between Timon and Pumbaa.

Fact #1790 

When writer Irene Mecchi was hired, she was told that the story pitch was "'Bambi in Africa' meets 'Hamlet,'" so she started calling it "Bamlet."

Fact #1791 

Adult Simba's mane was supposedly inspired by Jon Bon Jovi's '80s hair.

Fact #1792 

In the "I Just Can't Wait to be King" sequence, we see a pyramid of animals, including giant anteaters. Fine, except they're native to South America, not Africa.

Fact #1793 

While the name of Nala's mother, Sarafina, is never mentioned in the film, it is in the credits and was used in the trading cards given out at Burger King.

Fact #1794 

A speeded-up version of the Aloha Chant from Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room can be heard when Timon does his hula for the hyenas.

Fact #1795 

The family of the South African guy who composed the 1939 song used in "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" sued Disney in 2004 for $1.6 million in royalties. Disney settled two years later for an undisclosed amount.

Fact #1796 

“I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” was originally written as a song for Mufasa titled “To Be King.” It was reworked after they discovered the song didn’t work with James Earl Jones’ singing voice.

Fact #1797 

The Lion King is the best-selling home video of all time, with over 55 million copies sold.

Fact #1798 

With over 10 million copies sold, it is also the biggest-selling soundtrack ever for an animated film.

Fact #1799 

One of Pumbaa’s defining characteristics was the way he rubbed his belly. The inspiration for the tick: animator Tony Bancroft’s then-pregnant wife, who would often rub her own protruding belly. Bancroft thought that the action would make Pumbaa more “human and relatable.”

Fact #1800 

“What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the hula?” What is possibly Timon’s most famous line was actually improvised by Nathan Lane.

********

I hope you all enjoyed these facts as much as I did!

"It means no worries for the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!"