NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Over the four years he鈥檚 spent working on Barry Jenkins estimates that he鈥檚 been asked why he wanted to make it at least 400 times.
The question of why , the filmmaker of and and would want to jump into the big-budget, photorealistic animated Disney world of lions and tigers has bedeviled much of a film world that reveres him.
Countless other directors had made leaps into CGI-heavy blockbuster-making before. But Jenkins鈥� decision was uniquely analyzed 鈥� perhaps because there鈥檚 no more heralded, or trusted, filmmaker today under the age of 50 than Jenkins.
鈥淚t just thought it was something I could not deny,鈥� Jenkins says. 鈥淚 had to do it.鈥�
鈥淢ufasa,鈥� which opens in theaters Friday, brings together movie worlds that ordinarily stay very far apart. On the one hand, you have the Oscar-winning, 45-year-old director of some of the most luminous and lyrical films of the past decade. On the other, you have the intellectual property imperatives of today鈥檚 Hollywood. What happens when they collide?
The result in 鈥淢ufasa,鈥� about the lion cub's orphaned upbringing set both before and after the events of Jon Favreau's is an uncommonly textured and thoughtfully rendered spectacle that, Jenkins maintained in a recent interview, has more in common with 鈥淢辞辞苍濒颈驳丑迟鈥� than you鈥檇 think. Made with virtual filmmaking tools, 鈥淢ufasa鈥� essentially plopped one of the most groundbreaking filmmakers working today into an all-digital playground, with a budget more than a hundred times that of 鈥淢oonlight.鈥�
Often in 鈥淢ufasa,鈥� you can feel Jenkins鈥� sensibility warming and enhancing what can, in other less sensitively commanded films, feel soulless. With songs by , 鈥淢ufasa鈥� works as a big-movie entertainment and, even more surprisingly, as a Barry Jenkins film.
鈥淢y head was spinning when this started,鈥� Jenkins says. 鈥淚t actually reminded me of when I first got into filmmaking. This felt oddly enough very similar to that first experience. You can sort of run away from that newness and be intimidated by it, or you can embrace it, learn the things you don鈥檛 know and then start to bend it.鈥�
It鈥檚 also an experience that has quite evidently changed Jenkins, exponentially expanding his filmmaking tool kit while opening his eyes to new ways of making movies. 鈥淚t was almost like learning a new language,鈥� Jenkins says of the process. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
AP: How many times have you been asked why you did this movie?
Jenkins: At least 400 times. But it came down to the spirit and the warmth of Jeff Nathanson鈥檚 script and also the spirit and the warmth I always found in the story. I came to 鈥淭he Lion King鈥� by babysitting my nephews way, way back in the 1990s. My sister was a single mom and I鈥檇 be at home watching with the kids. You鈥檇 put on different VHSs and 鈥淭he Lion King鈥� was always the one that stuck. I just thought: Wouldn鈥檛 it be interesting to, coming out of something like 鈥淭he Underground Railroad鈥� to step into this thing that鈥檚 so full of light?
AP: Had you been actively seeking something lighter after those projects?
JENKINS: Maybe warmer, lighter but still just as deep, just as spiritual. This idea of family legacy, of finding your place in the world, those are things that are very present in 鈥淢辞辞苍濒颈驳丑迟鈥� and 鈥淭he Underground Railroad.鈥� If I was telling you, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to make this film about this kid who has this almost biblical experience involving water and a parent figure that he then gets displaced from, and has to find his place in the world, I could be talking about 鈥淢辞辞苍濒颈驳丑迟鈥� or I could be talking about 鈥淢ufasa.鈥�
AP: Were you motivated by expanding yourself as a filmmaker? Or the notions people have of you as a filmmaker?
JENKINS: It wasn鈥檛 about the notions of who people thought I was. But I was looking to expand just the kind of filmmaking I was doing at that point. This came right in the thick of pretty much a seven-year cycle, from beginning 鈥淢辞辞苍濒颈驳丑迟鈥� to being in post on 鈥淭he Underground Railroad,鈥� the way this movie is made, with this virtual production, it鈥檚 just a very new way of making films. There鈥檚 maybe been five or six movies made with this technology.
AP: Did you find you could carry your sensibility into virtual filmmaking?
JENKINS: I did. We evolved this process to the point where we could create so much of all the world and the movement in virtual space, and we could then take our virtual cameras into virtual production. We evolved the animation to the point where we could create the light, we could create the set, we could create the environment. (Cinematographer) James (Laxton) would be there and I would be there, and we鈥檙e blasting the voices of the actors into the room and the animators are moving through and I鈥檓 directing the blocking, and the camera is responding to the blocking in real time.
AP: It seemed like you were putting particular emphasis on close-ups. In the virtual space, were you playing with where to put the camera?
JENKINS: Absolutely. Look, I鈥檓 a filmmaker who was on set with 鈥淢oonlight,鈥� I鈥檝e got 25 days and the sun is going down. Yeah, you鈥檙e trying to find a place for the camera, you have ideas, but those ideas aren鈥檛 practically achievable. In this sense, the camera could be anywhere. It could be everywhere. It鈥檚 sort of the same questions but the possibility of answering is so immediate and direct.
AP: You recently told Vulture, though, that the digital process was 鈥渘ot your thing." Are you eager to return to physical filmmaking?
JENKINS: I want to unpack what you just said. We鈥檝e been talking, and I鈥檝e been talking about using these tools to create a very physical, in-person experience. I don鈥檛 consider this a project that鈥檚 all digital and all computer animated. If I made this movie again right now, it wouldn鈥檛 take me four years. It鈥檇 probably take me two and a quarter. If I was going to do another one of these films, I would have such a stronger foundation. It wouldn鈥檛 feel like something that鈥檚 alien or something that鈥檚 other or that鈥檚 all digital. It would just feel like filmmaking.
AP: So you see 鈥淢ufasa鈥� more as part of a continuum for you personally?
JENKINS: One thousand percent. I love through this process I鈥檝e learned so many other ways of making a film that I just could not learn making something like 鈥淭he Underground Railroad.鈥� What I love now is the overlap between the two of them. When I began this process, I talked to Matt Reeves because I had heard he had used some of these tools to pre-vis 鈥淭he Batman.鈥� He said, 鈥淒o you know that shot where the Penguin is in his car and Batman is walking upside down? I discovered that in the volume.鈥� I said, 鈥淥f course you did.鈥� I was like, Oh my God, we could have pre-vised 鈥淢辞辞苍濒颈驳丑迟鈥� with this technology.
AP: Do you think it鈥檚 necessary for a filmmaker today to be aware of these techniques?
JENKINS: One thousand percent. The light can be anywhere in this film and the camera can be anywhere. That doesn鈥檛 mean it should be everywhere. The next time I go out to make a film whether it鈥檚 something like 鈥淭he Underground Railroad鈥� or 鈥淏eale Street,鈥� James and I are probably going to incorporate these tools as well. Because figuring out the light is half the battle, as they say in 鈥淕.I. Joe.鈥�
AP: So do you feel changed as a filmmaker by this experience?
JENKINS: This is all new. It鈥檚 all being developed right now. We went down to 鈥淎vatar鈥� and spoke to the engineers there. They heard what we were trying to do and sent some people to embed with us and they helped us evolve our process, so we could have these animators with two legs move as if they have four legs. What I鈥檓 saying is: This is the wild, wild West.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
