The Lion King: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Nala
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Disney’s The Lion King presented us with an iconic love interest and fierce female: Nala. Here are some facts you may not have known.
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In many ways, The Lion King is the first Disney animated feature to feature a love story that was not actually the central plot point of the entire movie. The Disney Renaissance (1989-1999) was particularly keen on love stories, as it achieved major success with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. But when it came to Nala’s relationship to Simba, things were quite different.
Nala is one of the most important The Lion King characters, and not because she is being saved. In fact, it is Nala that brings Simba back to the reality of his responsibilities, pushing him in a way that no other Disney Princess had done in the past. Simba’s growth in The Lion King is not driven by Nala’s beauty or charms, but inspired by her intelligence and reasoning. To learn more about this fascinating character, read below!
10 ORIGINALLY, NALA WAS GOING TO HAVE A YOUNG BROTHER AND A FOX FRIEND
1994’s The Lion King certainly makes us feel like Nala and Simba are the only friends that each of them has. While it is probably hard for the prince of Pride Rock to make that many friends around the kingdom, it certainly does not explain why Nala can only bother Simba to get into some sort of trouble.
In early iterations of the script for The Lion King, Nala actually did have other animals around her that were her age. For one, Nala had a young brother called Mheetu (a play on the phrase “me too,” which would’ve aged weirdly). What’s more, Nala also had a good friend named Bhati, who was a fox.
9 IN SWAHILI, NALA MEANS “GIFT”
Disney used the Swahili language as a reference for many of the characters in The Lion King. As an example, “simba” means “lion,” and “pumbaa” translates to “lazy.” In the case of “nala,” translators argue that the word means “beloved,” “successful,” or “gift.”
This reference has recently been made more obvious by the Beyonce-curated soundtrack named “The Lion King: The Gift” that is accompanying the 2019 remake of The Lion King. Clearly, Queen Bey decided which translation to “Nala” she liked the most.
8 ONE VERSION OF THE SCRIPT HAD A DARK REASON FOR NALA LEAVING PRIDE ROCK
It is no secret that certain versions of The Lion King were taking quite a dark turn, which Disney was not particularly fond of. One of these versions had Scar trying to get the lionesses on his side as he became king, taking a particular liking to Nala. Obsessed with the idea of having an heir, Scar attempted to elect Nala his queen, despite being much, much older than she was.
Scar’s attempt to get Nala to be his queen forced her out of Pride Rock, leading her to eventually find Simba as an adult living with Timon and Pumbaa. Also, in this version of the script, it was only after Nala’s refusal to be with him that Scar recruited the hyenas to be on his side.
7 NALA AND SIMBA WERE ALMOST FIRST COUSINS
It is great that Nala and Simba’s love story is very different from other Disney movies, but this was almost the case for very different reasons. During a particular point in time, Nala’s mother (Sarafina) was called Naanda, and Naanda was the sister to Simba’s mother (Sarabi). Essentially, this means that Nala and Simba would be first cousins in The Lion King.
Furthermore, certain fans have pointed out that, in the real world, lionesses of the same pack all have children from the same lion, meaning that Sarabi and Sarafina could have both had children from Mufasa, which would make Simba and Nala siblings.
All in all, 1994’s The Lion King makes it clear enough that Sarafina and Sarabi are just friends, and so are Nala and Simba.
6 NALA WAS CREATED BY A VETERAN DISNEY WRITER FOR FEMALE CHARACTERS
Nala was created by Linda Woolverton, a veteran writer who created some of the best female characters and female-driven stories in the history of Disney.
Among her credits, Woolverton was also involved in developing characters such as Belle and Mulan. Along with Nala, these characters are all responsible for changing the public perception that Disney developed its princesses as passive characters.
As a screenwriter, Linda Woolverton is credited in 1991’s Beauty and the Beast, 2010’s Alice in Wonderland (and its Through The Looking Glass sequel), and 2014’s Maleficent (as well as its Mistress of Evil sequel).
5 DISNEY HAD SORT OF LAST-MINUTE CHANGES TO NALA’S VOICE
Actress Moira Kelly played the speaking voice of Adult Nala in the 1994 The Lion King, but she was actually not the first pick for the role. As a matter of fact, another actress had been voicing Nala for a long time, an actress who had already even recorded lines with Matthew Broderick (who voiced Adult Simba) throughout his involvement with the film.
For some unclear reason, Disney was not particularly satisfied with the original voice of Nala, and started holding auditions for other actress to fill in the role. So, Moira Kelly auditioned with Disney, and many months later was called back with the news that she had been cast.
4 DISNEY RECORDED MOIRA KELLY’S FACIAL EXPRESSIONS TO HELP ANIMATE NALA
During her recording sessions, Moira Kelly’s facial expressions were recorded by Disney, and many of those expressions were applied to the animation of Nala. Of course, this is standard procedure for most animated movies. However, given that Kelly was brought to the cast much later than usual, it is certainly unusual that Disney took the time to make changes to how Nala spoke this far along in the process.
Furthermore, Moira Kelly was surprised with how many of her “facial ticks” ended up in the animation, since this was a feature film with just animals. Unlike The Little Mermaid or Aladdin at the time, applying human emotions to animated animals was a different kind of challenge.
3 FOUR DIFFERENT ACTRESSES PLAYED NALA IN 1994
In 1994’s The Lion King, a total of four actresses were responsible for bringing Nala to life. As mentioned previously, Moira Kelly lent her voice for the speaking scenes of Adult Nala, but she did not do any of the singing. Instead, singer Sally Dworsky was the singing voice of Adult Nala. Fun fact: Dworsky was also the singing voice for Miriam in 1998’s The Prince of Egypt and Princess Fiona in 2001’s Shrek.
Niketa Calame-Harris played the speaking parts of Young Nala in the film, which is a significant portion of the character’s appearance on screen. Alternatively, Young Nala’s singing voice was provided by Laura Williams.
2 BEYONCE WAS ALWAYS THE TOP CHOICE FOR NALA IN THE 2019 REMAKE
In 2017, Variety Magazine broke the story that Beyonce was director Jon Favreau’s top choice to play Nala in the 2019 The Lion King remake. However, because Beyonce was not particularly known for focusing her efforts on acting (the last time she had been seen on the big screen was in 2009’s Obsessed), this didn’t seem like an obvious aligning of the stars.
Fortunately, Jon Favreau’s wishes did come to fruition, and Beyonce agreed to star as Nala in The Lion King.
1 SHAHADI WRIGHT JOSEPH HAD ALREADY PLAYED YOUNG NALA BEFORE THE 2019 REMAKE
If you had watched 2016’s Hairspray Live! or 2019’s Us, then you probably didn’t have any doubt that Shahadi Wright Joseph would do an amazing job as Young Nala in the 2019 The Lion King remake. However, many fans don’t realize that the young actress already had a connection to the character way before the remake was even announced.
When she was nine years old (in 2014), Shahadi Wright Joseph was cast as Young Nala in the Broadway production of The Lion King. In 2017, when they began casting for the remake, it was a no brainer for director Jon Favreau to bring her back to reprise the role.
Bernardo Sim writes about TV shows, queer culture, & Brazilian media. Born and raised in the Amazon, he now lives in South Florida. he/him
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/the-lion-king-facts-about-nala/