Brooke Obie Talks ‘The Lion King’ On NPR With The Film’s Young Cast
On July 24, 2019, Brooke Obie appeared on NPR’s popular 1A Movie Club to discuss Disney’s recent live-action remake of the classic film The Lion King. During the episode, which also featured The Lion King stars JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph, Obie shared how the remake improves upon the animated original, such as having a majority Black cast voice the characters.
“It definitely improved in really important ways on the original masterpiece…the original had some, there were some problematic issues. There was the hyena Ed…there was some ableism going on there. Disney has this trope of using an animal with a disability as a punchline…Now we have Eric Andre playing this version of Ed [Azizi] and he’s no longer an ableist joke. And I think that is a great improvement.”
Obie also said that despite fans initially criticizing Scar’s updated look in the remake, she feels that it takes a colorist element out of the film.
“You had Scar in the original with a darker skintone, he’s got this black hair. Darkness was supposed to signal evil…I think that [Scar’s updated look] is an improvement in this live-action version because there’s no message that darkness equals evil.”
While Disney has been criticized for its commitment to remaking its classic versions, Obie sees the remakes as an opportunity for Disney:
“The remakes are a very good thing,” she said. A lot of the Disney movies we grew up with and loved were extremely problematic. Remaking them gives an opportunity to correct that,” she said.
You can hear the full interview at 1a.org.