If the Caledonian Sleeper, the night train between London and Scotland, does not fit your budget or your schedule, know that there are other options to ride the rails between the two cities. There are two operators running direct, high-speed trains between London and Edinburgh, and they make the journey affordable, quick, and comfortable. So, once you’ve visited all the amazing museums London has on offer, all you need to do is hop on a train and you’ll get to see the Scottish capital and its famous castle in a matter of hours.
'Mufasa: The Lion King 'Ventures From Namibia to Kenya
20.12.2024 - 13:21 / cntraveler.com
When a film’s as massive and world-conquering as The Lion King, it’s only a matter of time before someone thinks “Let’s do another one…” In Mufasa: The Lion King, Mufasa, King of the Pride Lands and father of Simba from the original, gets his own origin story. Orphaned, lost, and alone after a flood kills his family and carries him away from his homeland, the young Mufasa is rescued by a friendly lion cub called Taka (who later becomes Scar), the heir to a royal bloodline, who always wanted a brother. Adventure ensues.
For Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins and production designer Mark Friedberg, the idea opened up the possibility of an epic CGI-animated cinematic journey that takes in striking landscapes across Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, including arid desert, lush wetlands, rocky canyons, and mountains of ice and snow, as well as the iconic Victoria Falls. Here, we sit down with Friedberg to find out which places in Africa were used to make the new film roar to life.
The Okavango Delta is a lush habitat for animals.
How important were real-life locations in Africa for a CGI-animated film like Mufasa?
The first, iconic Lion King film is more of a story of an area or neighborhood, mostly around Pride Rock. The Mufasa film is much more of a journey—it’s the story of how Mufasa comes to Pride Rock from where he came from. The opinion I brought to the table is that it should be a real, verifiable journey through disparate places in Africa.
By drawing on real locations, do you think the film has more authenticity?
Well, it’s a film about animals that sing and dance, so "authenticity" is an interesting question. But we wanted to be verifiable on a lot of levels. From the beginning, I said to Barry "I think Africa is a theme in this story, not just elephants and pussy cats," and he said "100 percent."
Because of Covid, you weren’t able to travel personally to Africa. How did you find the locations?
Originally, the plan was to go on a journey. Given the realities of our planet when we were making this movie, that wasn’t a viable option. I relied on parts of Africa I’d already been to before. I pitched the idea to Barry that it’s a journey that starts from Namibia, goes through Botswana, through Tanzania and eventually up into Kenya. I had relationships to these places.
Ol Doinyo Lengai , an active volcano in the Northern Tanzania, as seen from the dried Lake Natron as sunset approaches.
You and Barry also went on a ‘virtual road trip’ with local scouts and production teams on the ground in Africa helping to find locations. How did that work?
The way the viewer experiences our world is as if it’s photo real. The process is CG animation—every landscape is built rock by
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