By Anthony Lund
Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella have revealed the story behind Disney's only farting character, and how Elton John said no to their version of one song.
Summary
- Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella revealed their experience working on Disney's The Lion King to be chaotic, fun, and memorable.
- The characters of Timon and Pumbaa were born out of Lane and Sabella's chemistry, providing comic relief in the Shakespearean tale.
- Elton John was against Timon and Pumbaa singing Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
The Lion King reaches its 30th anniversary in June, and as one of Disney’s biggest and most successful movies of all time, that means there is a lot to be celebrated. Ahead of the milestone, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, who voiced the comical pairing of Timon and Pumbaa, have been recalling their time working on the movie, including delivering Disney’s first - and only - on-screen farting character, and having Elton John shut down the idea of them singing one of the movie’s pivotal songs.
Disney's The Lion King (1994)
G
Animation
Adventure
Drama
- Release Date
- June 23, 1994
- Director
- Roger Allers , Rob Minkoff
- Cast
- Jonathan Taylor Thomas , Matthew Broderick , Jeremy Irons , James Earl Jones , Moira Kelly , Nathan Lane , Rowan Atkinson
- Runtime
- 88
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Writers
- Irene Mecchi , Jonathan Roberts , Linda Woolverton , Brenda Chapman , Burny Mattinson , Barry Johnson
- Tagline
- Hakuna matata!
- Franchise
- Disney Animated Films
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lane and Sabella recalled how the latter would frequently make flatulence noises while they were recording together, and although it was never the intention, eventually it became part of Pumbaa’s appearance in the movie. Sabella explained:
"We did a five-show weekend, Friday, Saturday, Saturday, Sunday, Sunday. And then we had an early morning Disney session, and we usually had a 10 o'clock session, but this time it was like a 9 o'clock session. So, we get there, and we're pretty beat up from five shows, and to get the ball rolling, I just started making these sounds as he was reading his lines. He kept laughing, going, 'Don't do that, don't do that.' I said, 'I'll stop.' And then I kept doing it. That's the story of how Pumbaa became the first and only Disney character with flatulence."
Lane and Sabella did not originally audition for the roles of Timon and Pumbaa, as the parts did not exist. The pair first auditioned to be part of the trio of hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, but their chemistry saw the creative team go to work on creating new characters just for them. Lane explained:
“[Sabella] came out from his audition, and I said, 'Could we read together? It'll be easier to do since it's three different characters, and we know each other.’ So, we went in and we improvised a bit and had a lot of fun. We got into this little phone booth, and we read the material, and knowing our rhythms and comic timing, we just took off. When we got done, I looked up and I saw [then-director] Roger Allers, and his mouth was open. He was just staring at us.”
It was months later when the pair received a call telling them that the characters of Timon and Pumbaa were being created for them, specifically to be “the comic relief in this Shakespearean tale of lions.”
Elton John Prevented Lane and Sabella Singing The Lion King’s Love Song
While Timon and Pumbaa became popular enough with audiences to get their own spin-off series and even return to retell the story of The Lion King from their perspective in The Lion King 1½, one person who was not instantly endeared with the pair was songwriter and pop icon Elton John. Having written several songs for the movie with lyricist Tim Rice, John was not happy with the original plans for Timon and Pumbaa to sing the love song, Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Lane recalled:
“Originally, we sang the whole thing. Elton John was mortified that the warthog and the meerkat were singing it. He said, ‘The reason I wrote the score was because I wanted to have a Disney love song. I didn’t want it to be sung by the rat and the pig.' We did [record] a version. We sang the whole thing in our character voices. It wasn’t like we were going to do our legit Broadway version. We were doing two very character-type voices. It’s hard to do that and be romantic. Elton was right.”
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Lane and Sabella were among those in attendance for a special Hollywood Bowl performance for Disney’s The Lion King 30th Anniversary – A Live to Film Concert Event, which saw them sing their classic song Hakuna Matata and their parts of Can You Feel the Love Tonight? that did make it into the movie. Other performers included original Scar voice actor Jeremy Irons, who performed Be Prepared, Billy Eichner and Jennifer Hudson.
