The Lion King features actor Donald Glover as the older version of Simba. He's one of the most prominent actors in the film, but he revealed during the Lion King press conference in Los Angeles that his son was more excited by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter's role than his.
Glover was part of the generation that grew up with the original Lion King, and the heart of the movie was why he was attracted to the role. "[Director Jon Favreau] was really good about the circle of life having a major hand in [the narrative]. I really feel that it's good to make movies that are global and like, metropolitan in a sense of citizens of the world and making sure we talk about how connected we are right now. Because it's the first time we've really been able to talk to everybody at the same time. I felt it's a necessary thing. I felt Jon was very good at talking about that, very up-front with it. I kind of felt like that with The Jungle Book, too. The story is very much the same, but that 'the trick' is human's power... it's great."
For Glover, part of the best part of the experience was getting to see how his son responded to the brand new version of the classic film. "My son saw it last night, and he was freaking out... I didn't tell him anything [about being in it]. I really didn't. It's his favorite movie. I figured I'd wait and tell him when we got there. But he somehow kind of found out about it, but still didn't know I was in it. He was just like, 'oh, the one with Beyonce'. During the movie, he was like 'oh, Dad's in this too! Bonus!'" Even with his own family, Glover was overshadowed by Beyoncé.
Opening in theaters on July 19, director Jon Favreau's The Lion King features the voices of Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver, Florence Kasumba, Eric André, Keegan-Michael Key, JD McCrary, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and James Earl Jones.