Tiffany Boone Didn’t Know She Was Auditioning for Sarabi in Mufasa

When Tiffany Boone he stepped into her Mufasa audition, she had no idea she would get to play the iconic lion queen Sarabi.

“I created the character in my head, (but) I didn’t know I was auditioning for Sarabi,” the actress, 37, said exclusively Us Weekly on Thursday, December 19, while discussing Mufasa: The Lion King. “He had a different name on the page. So I was like, ‘This has to be a new character.'”

As Boone read through the script, she thought the character seemed “cool” and wanted to use her voice to reflect that aspect of her personality. Boone was thrown for a loop once it was revealed that she would be voicing the beloved cartoon character.

“So when they told me who I was actually playing, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a lot of pressure, really,'” she admitted.

Boone shared that she asked director Barry Jenkins if he wanted her to make her voices sound more similar Madge Sinclairwho originally the character voiced in the original The Lion King from 1994, or similar Alfre Woodardand Sarabi played in the 2019 live-action adaptation. Jenkins, 45, had faith in Boone’s talent and encouraged her to be herself as they developed Sarabi’s story.

“I had so much freedom to create the younger version of her and give the other layers to the character (and) the challenges she went through to become the great queen she will become,” she told Us.

As a fan of The Lion KingBoone always saw Sarabi as the “perfect” wife, mother and queen, so she wanted fans to get a taste of Sarabi’s personality before she became Mufasa’s loyal partner.

“It wasn’t always perfect. She’s sassy … she’s sarcastic and makes fun of the boys,” Boone said, referring to Mufasa and his adopted brother, Taka, who would later become Scar. “I think she has a sense of humor about her. She’s very vulnerable, and all those things are fun to add to the complexity of the Sarabi that we’ll see later.”

Boone teased that fans might be “surprised” to see how Sarabi’s relationship with Mufasa (voiced by Aaron Pierre) develops, suggesting that “it’s not such a straight line.” As for rumors of a love triangle between Sarabi, Mufasa and Scar, Boone suggested that fans will “get an answer” when they see the movie.

“You’re going to get to understand all three of them a lot better, for sure,” he teased.

Boone admitted that she is “still pinching” herself that she is now a member of the The Lion King family.

“I can’t believe I’m a part of it,” she shared, noting that her younger self couldn’t have dreamed of such an opportunity. “Telling that little version of me that used to sit and watch the VHS in my mother’s bed over and over again, like, ‘You’re going to be part of that family, that story.’ I feel like her little head would explode. My imagination could not even dream of this.”

However, Boone admitted there is “definitely pressure” to ensure she and the entire Mufasa team deliver – especially for fans of the animated classic.

“I know there’s a bunch of people who are like, ‘Are they going to do this justice?'” he reflected. “But there’s so much joy too, and that’s what I think we were trying to remember when we were recording. And I think Barry Jenkins really led us in the direction of finding the joy in these moments and having a lot of fun and letting that kind of weight roll off our backs and do our jobs. as actors.”

Mufasa: The Lion King is in theaters now.

With reporting by Kat Pettibone