Editing The Lion King (section)

===Casting===
The voice actors were chosen for how they fit and could add to the characters; for instance, [[James Earl Jones]] was cast because the directors found his voice "powerful" and similar to a lion's roar.<ref name="making"/> Jones remarked that during the years of production, Mufasa "became more and more of a dopey dad instead of [a] grand king".<ref name=fone/>

[[Nathan Lane]] auditioned for [[List of characters in The Lion King#Zazu|Zazu]], and [[Ernie Sabella]] for one of the hyenas. Upon meeting at the recording studio, Lane and Sabella{{snd}}who were starring together in a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production of ''[[Guys and Dolls]]'' at the time{{snd}}were asked to record together as hyenas. The directors laughed at their performance and decided to instead cast them as Timon and Pumbaa.<ref name="making">{{cite AV media |title=The Making of The Lion King |location=''The Lion King'' [[laserdisc]] |medium =Laserdisc |publisher=[[Walt Disney Home Entertainment]] |year=1995}}</ref><ref name="latimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-sep-15-la-et-lion-king-20110915-story.html|title=A 'Lion's' tale|first=Susan|last=King|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 15, 2011|access-date=October 24, 2011|archive-date=October 24, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111024102445/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/15/entertainment/la-et-lion-king-20110915|url-status=live}}</ref> For the hyenas, the original intention was to reunite [[Cheech & Chong]], but while [[Cheech Marin]] agreed to voice Banzai, [[Tommy Chong]] was unavailable. His role was changed into a female hyena, Shenzi, voiced by [[Whoopi Goldberg]], who insisted on being in the film.<ref name="dvdcommentary" /> The English double act [[Vic and Bob|Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer]] auditioned for roles as a pair of chipmunks; according to Mortimer, the producers were enthusiastic, but he and Reeves were uncomfortable with their corporate attitude and abandoned the film.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mortimer|first=Bob|title=And Away|publisher=[[Gallery Books]]|year=2021|isbn=978-1398505292|pages=Chapter 25}}</ref> [[Rowan Atkinson]] was initially uninterested in the studio's offer to voice Zazu, later explaining that "voice work is something I generally had never done and never liked [...] I'm a visual artist, if I'm anything, and it seemed to be a pointless thing to do". His friend and fellow ''[[Mr. Bean]]'' writer/actor [[Robin Driscoll]] convinced him to accept the role, and Atkinson retrospectively expressed that ''The Lion King'' became "a really, very special film".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/movies/2018/10/28/rowan-atkinson-zazu-the-lion-king/|title=Why Rowan Atkinson originally didn't want to be the voice of Zazu in ''The Lion King''|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|first=A. Cydney|last=Hayes|date=October 28, 2018|access-date=July 11, 2022|archive-date=October 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028191432/https://ew.com/movies/2018/10/28/rowan-atkinson-zazu-the-lion-king/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Matthew Broderick]] was cast as adult [[Simba]] early during production. Broderick only recorded with another actor once over the three years he worked on the film, and only learned that [[Moira Kelly]] voiced [[Nala (The Lion King)|Nala]] at the film's premiere.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/movies/at-the-movies.html|title=The Lion Evolves|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Dave|last=Kehr|date=December 27, 2002|access-date=April 5, 2014|archive-date=April 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410193357/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/movies/at-the-movies.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited}}</ref> English actors [[Tim Curry]], [[Malcolm McDowell]], [[Alan Rickman]], [[Patrick Stewart]], and [[Ian McKellen]] were considered for the role of [[Scar (The Lion King)|Scar]],<ref name=":23">{{cite book|title = Disney Voice Actors: A Biographical Dictionary|last = Hischak|first = Thomas S|publisher = McFarland|year = 2011|isbn = 9780786486946|location = United States|pages = 106|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=e1RTP8thtR0C&pg=PA106 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> which eventually went to fellow Englishman [[Jeremy Irons]].<ref name=":3">{{cite web|last=Knolle|first=Sharon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140617142313/http://news.moviefone.com/2014/06/14/lion-king-facts/|url=http://news.moviefone.com/2014/06/14/lion-king-facts/|title='The Lion King': 20 Things You Didn't Know About the Disney Classic|date=June 14, 2014|access-date=July 11, 2014|archive-date=June 17, 2014|url-status=dead|website=Moviefone}}</ref> Irons initially turned down the part, as he felt uncomfortable going to a comedic role after his dramatic portrayal of [[Claus von Bülow]] in ''[[Reversal of Fortune]]'' (1990). His performance in that film inspired the writers to incorporate more of his acting as von Bülow in the script{{snd}}adding one of that character's lines, "You have no idea"{{snd}}and prompted animator Andreas Deja to watch ''Reversal of Fortune'' and ''[[Damage (1992 film)|Damage]]'' (1992) in order to incorporate Irons' facial traits and tics.<ref name="fone">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306025255/http://www.moviefone.com/2011/09/15/jeremy-irons-and-james-earl-jones-on-the-lion-king-3d-and-keep/|url=http://news.moviefone.com/2011/09/15/jeremy-irons-and-james-earl-jones-on-the-lion-king-3d-and-keep/|title=Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones on 'The Lion King 3D' and Keeping It Together When Mufasa Dies|website=Moviefone|archive-date=March 6, 2016|url-status=dead|date=September 15, 2011|first=Aiden |last=Redmond|access-date=April 5, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-05-15-ca-57883-story.html|title=SUMMER SNEAKS '94: You Can't Hide His Lion Eyes|work=Los Angeles Times|date=May 15, 1994|first=Chris|last=Willman|access-date=April 5, 2014|archive-date=April 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407123607/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-05-15/entertainment/ca-57883_1_jeremy-irons|url-status=live}}</ref>