Chiwetel Ejiofor was at a string station when a phone call made him feel five years old again . The Oscar - nominated actor was in New York , on his way to Washington DC , when his agent call off him and said Disney wanted him to vocalize Scar ina remaking ofThe Lion King .

“ I think it ’s one of those moment when you ’re just filled with a unadulterated kind of joy , ” he told io9 of bugger off that call . “ [ Also ] , as a rooter , I was excited about the view of there being another Lion King and just what that might mean . ”

At that clip , Ejiofor had no idea about the impressive technical operation director Jon Favreau was going to habituate to bring The Lion King back to the vainglorious concealment . Virtual reality sets using video secret plan engines driving computing machine brio and all that . alternatively , he just began guess about what The Lion King meant to him .

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Scar from Disney’s remake of The Lion King.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Scar from Disney’s remake of The Lion King.Photo: (Disney)

https://gizmodo.com/why-remake-the-lion-king-director-jon-favreau-explains-1835074648

“ frankly my memories of the first time seeing The Lion King was really of being five years old and then realizing afterward on that I was 17 , ” Ejiofor laughed . “ It just made me palpate like a young kid . ”

Though he ’s been inMarvel movies , most people think of Ejiofor as a “ serious ” histrion — a military man who excels do Shakespeare on stage . Knowing that , you might think the fact that The Lion King made him sense so nostalgic would give him pause about taking on the office of Scar , the malign lion who kill his sidekick and flim-flam his nephew in ordination to take the throne . possibly the role and the film are too iconic;its songs , themes , and visuals too well known ; and Jeremy Irons ’ original carrying out too perfect . But none of that occurred to Ejiofor at all . In fact , there was n’t a individual hesitation .

Photo:

The young kid at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles.Photo: (Disney)

“ Even if you were to think ‘ Oh am I hesitate ’ at some tier you ’re just kidding , ” he said . “ Of course you ’re not hesitating . Of naturally you want to essay and do that . Of course you need to know this . ”

To obtain his voice for Scar , Ejiofor did n’t seem back at the original film . He did n’t go to see the Broadway take on again ( though he was a sports fan of both the CRT screen and stage productions , having seen each legion times ) . He did n’t even recollect about what chains had done before . He just tried tofind the Scar in himself .

“ I did n’t find like I need to go back and make unlike decisions or something . I felt like I ’d just interpret it the agency that I interpret it and if it ends up similar , let the chips fall where they may , ” Ejiofor said . “ My suspicion was that it would end up pretty different , just given that myself and Jeremy are so different in our personality and our way of looking at stuff and nonsense . So it was n’t a question of assay to avert what he was doing or move towards what he was doing . It was just a enquiry stress to interpret it as I would . ”

Image:

Scar in the new Lion King.Image: (Disney)

And so he dive into that interpretation . In Scar , Ejiofor saw a reference he conceive lies within all of us , whether we require to acknowledge it or not . It ’s a character living with darkness he chooses to explore , whereas most of us do n’t . That ’s how the histrion work himself to such a rich , dark place .

“ To work [ a character ] , you do n’t needfully have to commiserate but you have to empathize with their position , ” he said . “ You have to understand where they ’re coming from whoever that person is and whatever they do . Then you have to somehow connect that to yourself . You have to understand that we ’re all very complex , all flawed , and all of these thing bubble around inside of us . We grapple , most of the time , to control the most nefarious prospect of them . But they ’re there and that ’s part of the experience of being animated . ”

“ So tapping into whatever that sort of rage is , ” Ejiofor go along . “ The addiction to power and condition and all of those things that Scar represents . So much of the world is built on exactly those kinds of emotion and those variety of dynamic . And , so , recognizing that that is in yourself as well and then trying to visualise out what that means , [ you ] put all of that into the voice , into the characterization , into the sort of three - dimensionality of it all . ”

Photo:

Ejiofor in the new Maleficent movie.Photo: (Disney)

Not only does Ejiofor endeavor for three - dimensionality with his persona , but he ’s also just hit the third dimension in his body of work with Disney . In addition to being Scar in The Lion King and Baron Mordo in Doctor Strange , he’ll soon be regard as a mythologic creature in Maleficent : kept woman of Evil .

( When asked about Mordo ’s whereabouts during the Avengers films , or rumors of his return in a Doctor Strange sequel the actor says “ I can not speak on these issues . I suppose , you know , we ’ll continue to see and Mordo will continue to germinate . I do n’t want to jump the gun . ” )

Those three office put him in a unique billet to discuss a matter that been quite prevalent in Hollywood of recent : the uber - success of Disney and what it ’s doing to the eternal sleep of the industry . Ejiofor feels the society ’s success is n’t just because of all the marquee stain names it owns but the way those flick have tapped into something the public require .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

https://gizmodo.com/disneys-new-release-schedule-has-me-thinking-a-lot-abou-1834589700

“ I think we ’re in a time and a position where we want expectant storytelling . We involve to be able to relate some of the experiences that we ’re go through so as to find optimistic , ” he said . “ so as to finger that we can stay on to be the kind of chroniclers of our fourth dimension and convey some of these ideas , and potentially warnings , to the generations that are coming up … I experience like for whatever grounds , with myself anyway , Disney is right-hand at the cutting edge of some of those conversations about the nature of storytelling in communicating . Communicating profoundly complex ideas in these wondrous kind of edible sort of way and formats . ”

Which , certainly , apply to The Lion King , a fun , peculiar musical that ’s also about family , death , courage , and the grandness of home . And , just mayhap , it ’s also about being reminded what it ’s like to feel five years sure-enough again when your phone pack at a train post .

William Duplessie

The Lion King spread July 19 .

For more , check that you ’re adopt us on our fresh Instagram @io9dotcom .

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