LION KING star Jeremy talks about being ‘really upset’ by Scar Design; Disney says “Don’t pay a lot”
1994s The Lion King remains a beloved classic. It spawned several direct-to-video follow-ups, not to mention a live-action retelling and prequel. Let’s return to that original film, which features one of Disney’s best villains in Jeremy Irons’ Scar, the brother of James Earl Jones’ Mufasa.
Scar traumatized an entire generation of children…“Long live the king”– and was perfectly staged by the British actor. At the time, animation was new to Irons, and in a video looking back at some of his most iconic roles, he admitted he didn’t know what to expect from the process.
Explaining (via Toonado.com) that “I thought I would see a screen with a lion doing this, and I would have to try to make my mouth do that, what his mouth was doing.” Irons remembered them essentially creating the character of Scar during this process. As a result, he had no idea what the villain would look like until he attended the premiere.
THE Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice the star says he was “really upset” while watching the movie because of the way “muscular and wonderful” Musafa looked like Scar, who was “scabby look” with a “a terrible tail and a terrible mane.”
“Is this what they saw when they were [sketching me]?” » he said, revealing his thoughts at the time. He later admitted that this was obviously not the case.
Yet things only got worse for Irons when he saw how happy the public was when Scar was killed. Despite this, Irons still looks back on the experience in a positive light and reveals that Disney’s Jeffrey Katzenberg later told him that Scar was a “a large part” of The Lion Kingsuccess.
Alas, this did not result in any sort of bonus! “Jeffrey Katzenberg called me at home where I was staying in Italy and said, ‘The Lion King is a huge success and a big part of that is your character.’ I was very happy and was hoping to get something via message as a thank you because I remember who played Mrs. Doubtfire – Robin Williams. That’s right. Robin worked for Disney. Now Disney doesn’t pay a lot of money. I mean, they don’t. “
"And Robin called them and said, after Mrs. Doubtfire, I made a fortune for your company and you paid me a small fee. And in the mail he received a Picasso," Irons revealed. “I was hoping Jeffrey would put sand in his pocket. But he didn’t. Anyway, they were very happy with me. But no, I didn’t get a Picasso.”
You can learn more about Irons about his work experience at The Lion King in the player below.
