Composer Hans Zimmer can't seem to get away from "The Lion King."
The emotional score has gotten him jobs, his only Oscar and secured him a place in the hearts of children and adults. But he wasn't sure he wanted to come back when Jon Favreau approached him to revisit the soundtrack for his technologically advanced reimagining of the animated film, which opens nationwide Thursday night.
"I'm always the one saying no to everything," Zimmer, 61, said. "I suppose I'm the reluctant bride."
This July 10, 2019 photo shows composer Hans Zimmer posing for a portrait at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., to promote the film "The Lion King." (Photo by Rebecca CabageInvisionAP)
He only agreed to do "The Lion King" a quarter of a century ago because of his daughter. She was 6 at the time, and his movies at that point weren't exactly child-friendly.
"I couldn't take her to a Tony Scott bloodbath," Zimmer said.
He had one stipulation: That it wasn't going to be a musical.
"I said I don't want to do a musical, I hate musicals," Zimmer said. "And they said, we'll guarantee you this will not become a musical ever." How it ended up that way is, "another story."
But it's not the only way "The Lion King" diverged from his expectations. What he thought was going to be a "nice cartoon" turned into something much darker. The story about a young prince who loses his father hit a nerve for Zimmer, who also lost his father at a young age.
"All that stuff that one had managed to cover up so well, I had to go and open up and actually write from that point," Zimmer said. "I had to write what it felt like to be a little boy who loses his father."
And yet Zimmer is always somewhat surprised to find that people have such a connection to it. Terrence Malick only approached him for "The Thin Red Line," which would earn him another Oscar nomination, because of "The Lion King."
He remembers being at a dinner with Malick, Werner Herzog and others and overhearing, "The voices of the two great filmmakers passionately arguing with each other which piece in 'The Lion King' they prefer."
"I'm going, they're talking about a KIDS movie," Zimmer said, still slightly baffled and amused. "Terry Malick and Werner Herzog arguing about 'The Lion King!'"
And when Pharrell Williams convinced Zimmer to play at Coachella in 2017, he said fine, but that, "The one thing we're not going to do is 'The Lion King'."
A 23-year-old member of his band told him to get over himself. "It's the soundtrack of my generation," the young man declared. Zimmer conceded and had a bit of a revelation in the desert.
"I look out throughout the shambles of a field with all these people and see grown men and women truly touched and I'm realizing it's not because it's sentimental but because it's emotional, it's the truth, and my band is playing every note with total conviction," Zimmer said. "(I thought) maybe we can pull this off with an orchestra and maybe because everybody in the orchestra will know the material they will play it with the same sort of passion and conviction."
That was the convincing he needed. And Favreau had shown him some majestic concept footage of what the film would actually look like.
"He wasn't just my portal into the music, which is arguably the most important aspect of this film," Favreau said. "It's difficult to appreciate just how significant a collaborator he was."
When it finally got down to recording, he assembled his band and hand-picked orchestra from around the world in Los Angeles. And it turned out to be just as he'd dreamed: An emotional experience .
Zimmer even got to do something rather special this time around. He recorded with a live audience at The Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage where they've recorded everything from "Gone With the Wind" and "Lawrence of Arabia" to "E.T." and the most recent "Star Wars" films.
"I wanted it to be a performance. Therefore I needed an audience. I had 102 people in the orchestra and the band. And then I put 20 chairs upfront for the filmmakers who made the movie who actually never get to come to the recording sessions," Zimmer said with a smile. "It's the circle of life, or completing a circle or whatever. The force is strong on this!"
Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States began ratcheting up pressure on communist-controlled Cuba after the military action in Venezuela early this year resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
The Justice Department is preparing to seek an indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro. A criminal charge against Castro would have to be approved by a grand jury and could escalate tensions with Havana.
It would come amid rising tensions this year between President Donald Trump's administration and Cuba’s government. Meanwhile, the U.S. is in the midst of an uneasy ceasefire in the U.S. war against Iran.
Here’s a closer look at developments over the year between Cuba and the U.S.
A day after the operation in Venezuela that captured Maduro, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Cuba's government was “in a lot of trouble," as the president renewed calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland.
Trump fired off a warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braced for potential unrest after Maduro was deposed. Trump called for the Cuban government “to make a deal BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE."
Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, responded, “Those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way.”
Trump signed an executive order to impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, a move that could further cripple the island.
A day before the war in Iran began, Trumpsaid the U.S. was in talks with Havana and raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba,” though he didn't offer any details.
Trump said Rubio was in discussions with Cuban leaders “at a very high level.”
Trump didn’t clarify his comments but seemed to indicate that the situation with Cuba, among Washington’s bitterest adversaries for decades, was coming to a critical point.
Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of Castro known as "Raúlito," secretly met with Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February.
Díaz-Canelsaid Cuba and the U.S. held talks, marking the first time the Caribbean country confirmed widespread speculation about discussions with the Trump administration amid an energy crisis.
He said the talks “were aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences between our two nations. International factors facilitated these exchanges.”
A sanctioned Russian oil tanker arrived in Cuba, the first time in three months fuel reached the island.
Diaz-Canel said he would not resign.
Díaz-Canel said in an interview he would not step down and that the U.S. has no valid reason to carry out a military attack against the island or to attempt to depose him.
Speaking in the interview on NBC's “Meet the Press,” the president said an invasion of Cuba would be costly and affect regional security.
Díaz-Canel spoke during a rally that drew hundreds of people to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the declaration of the Cuban Revolution’s socialist essence.
“The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on April 16, 1961, to be ready to confront serious threats, including military aggression. We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it becomes inevitable, to defeat it,” Díaz-Canel said.
News emerged that an American delegation recently met with Cuban government officials, marking a renewed diplomatic push. This was at least the third meeting with Rodríguez Castro.
A senior State Department official met with Rodríguez Castro earlier in the month, according to a department official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
The official did not say who from the U.S. met with Rodríguez Castro, whose grandfather is believed to play an influential role in the Cuban government despite not holding an official post. A second U.S. official said Rubio was not part of the delegation that visited Havana.
A Cuban diplomat speaking at the United Nations said Havana will not abide by any American “ultimatums” to release political prisoners as part of new talks.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Cuban Ambassador to the U.N. Ernesto Soberón Guzmán said internal issues regarding detainees “are not on the negotiating table.” The release of political prisoners was a key U.S. demand as the longtime adversaries held discussions in Cuba for the first time in a decade.
Senate Republicans rejected legislation from Democrats that would have required Trump to end the U.S. energy blockade on Cuba unless he receives approval from Congress.
The vote on the war powers resolution showed how Republicans continue to stand behind Trump as he acts unilaterally to exert American force in a range of global conflicts, including Venezuela, Iran and Cuba — one of the U.S.’s closest neighbors.
U.S. officials say the United States was not looking at imminent military action against Havana despite Trump’s repeated threats that “Cuba is next” and that American warships deployed in the Middle East for the Iran conflict could return by way of the island.
The officials involved in preliminary discussions with Cuban authorities also told the AP that they are not optimistic the communist government will accept an offer for tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, two years of free Starlink internet access for all Cubans, agricultural assistance and infrastructure support.
But they say Cuba has not yet outright refused the offer, which comes with conditions that the government has long resisted, even after the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Havana.
U.S. and Cuban officials said CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials including Raúl Castro’s grandson during a high-level visit to the island.
Ratcliffe met with Rodríguez Castro, Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services, and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to the AP.
The Justice Department is preparing to seek an indictment against Castro, three people familiar with the matter told the AP.
One of the people said the potential indictment is connected to Castro’s alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro was defense minister at the time.
All three people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. The Cuban government did not respond to a request for comment on the potential indictment, which was reported earlier by CBS.
FILE - Raul Castro waves a Cuban national flag during a May Day parade at Revolution Square in Havana on May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)
