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What's up me through family.
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We are experiencing Disney's Mufasa today.
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Not only am I talking to the cast of the movie?
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We are experiencing the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
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I literally just got down from the zip line.
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It was crazy. And yes,
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those are Rhinos to my left shoulder and giraffe somewhere behind me
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This is one you don't want to know we're going on an
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venture to San Diego and I'm so excited.
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I cannot wait for what's about to go down.
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Yeah, I see Lin Manuel Miranda and Barry Jenkins.
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And fun fact, you guys,
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if it weren't for Lin Manuel Miranda,
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I wouldn't be here today.
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He's the reason I'm a theater kid.
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So it is very full circle.
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You know what else is full circle.
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the Lion King, except this is for Mufasa before Lion King
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We're talking context.
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We're talking humble beginnings,
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crazy plots really worth the watch.
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I'm Daniela Salazar with Metro.
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Mufasa touches on themes of family legacy,
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resilience values that I think are deeply embedded in so many cultures
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but deeply speak to the Latino community.
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How did you approach these themes in a way that would also
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be universal to all communities.
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When you really talk about the lion king,
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it's really easy to think.
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Oh, it's about royalty.
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It's about kings. This and that.
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It's really about family.
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Everyone can relate to that idea of,
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I've got this brother and I love him,
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but we're starting to grow apart.
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It's truly universal. Lynn,
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your music has never failed to bring on the Sasson Els.
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How did you infuse Mufasa's journey with some of that rhythm and
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energy through the music that you worked on?
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Disney's kind of been my passport around the world when I write
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for the theater. It's always New York,
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it's Washington Heights, it's Hamilton,
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it's Warriors. And for this,
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we got to just really explore all this incredible African rhythms
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and African harmonies. I insisted on working with Lebo M who
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is the first voice you hear in that original film and what
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he brings to the Lion King Universe really is,
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is, is why it's so sticky and why it feels both
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so specific and so universal that it was all there on the
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script. And that is such a blessing as an actor approaching
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a script when you don't have to search beyond the words themselves
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And I think that really gave us a lot of confidence
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It gave us a lot of support for the discovery of
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these characters. Boss is actually a very serious intense story.
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You know, you're dealing with a lot of serious themes about
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family and fathers and their Children.
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And you know, there's a lot of intense stuff going on
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to play the role of T Mo.
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And I really, I have to say as a Latina,
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your character really reminds me of that one uncle,
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that one, that one uncle really made me laugh.
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He always comes in with the commentary,
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the witty comments, especially in this movie.
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There's a lot of action sequences and then it's nice to be
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able to come in and try to make people laugh.
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I'm a little nervous but I'm excited.
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That's high. I'm crying internally.
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I can't think right now it's shaking.
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I love you. Meet your family.
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Who? Yeah, I feel really good.
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Yeah. No, really good.
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Oh, there's a little net back here.
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yeah, I can even sit.
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This is Miss you got it all.
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Yeah, that last part was a,
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how are you? I'm well,
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thank you for coming to the safari park.
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Of course, it's a beautiful day out here.
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So please tell me what should families expect once arriving to the
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safari park, what are they going to find?
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We offer unique experiences.
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Every single day is Que de Safari and this is what it's
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about, it's about community.
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We're a global conservation organization doing work all over the world,
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but it's really all the people being part of these conservation efforts
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Collaboration is key.
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It takes a community,
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a global community to really make a difference.
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We are going on a safari.
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This is really cool.
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I feel like a lion might walk by who they're kind of
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fighting. Do you see that?
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Oh, look, it's a couple of rhinos playing.
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Oh I thought they were fighting.
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They kind of look like they're fighting but they're playing,
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they're playing. I feel like Indiana Jones,
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the Latina version Daniela Jones.
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Perfect. Looks like you're holding the giraffe coming in tight.
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Throughout this film. This journey to Malele kind of becomes this
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journey about overcoming challenges to make a dream a reality.
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Is there Malele that you all have personally in your life?
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My Malele is wherever my loved ones are.
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My Malele last night was watching Love is blind as much traveling
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as we do for work and everything else.
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Like whenever I go home to L A and I'm with like
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my chosen family there gives a comfort that like I can't explain
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So that's my for me.
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Well, I'm in show business.
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So there's a lot of that.
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I went to film school,
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Mi Mi Mi years ago and met so many people I still
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work with to this day.
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As soon as you asked that question,
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I thought about opening night of In The Heights on Broadway in
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2008 because that was the first day I could actually say I'm
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doing what I love for a living as opposed to doing 50
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other jobs and doing what I love on the side or in
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I don't think I'll ever make a leap that big again from
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like, substitute teacher to Broad composer.
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For me. It felt like a real pride rock moment when
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the thing that had been existing in my head for so long
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finally existed in the world.
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I felt like that was my Malele.
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I just spoke with Elaine Manuel Miranda.
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Oh, wow. The most special guest I've ever been able
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to see from afar is standing right behind me.
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All right, he literally turned his back,
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but I'm not going to take that personally.
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I'm a huge fan still forever be is a diva that is
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a well deserved Diba.
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he really didn't like that.
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I called him a diva be,
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it wasn't personal and just like that our day is up here
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at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
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We got to live the full Mufasa experience.
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That's for sure. Be sure to watch Disney's Mufasa out December
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20th. You're not gonna want to miss this one.
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