'The Lion King' star Seth Rogen personally apologized to Beyoncé for shared song
Seth Rogen just can't wait for audiences to see "The Lion King" this week, but the star, who voices the hilarious warthog Pumbaa, said he took a moment at the premiere to "personally" apologize to Beyoncé for something.
Rogen told "Good Morning America" that the pressure of sharing a song with with Beyoncé, who voices Nala, was "not something I ever expected."
"I apologized to her personally for having to share credit with me," Rogen said of the hit song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from the movie's soundtrack. "I currently have like the No. 5 song on iTunes, so that's thrilling," he added, laughing.
"But overall, I loved it, and I think that the song turned out great, and the fact that I didn't ruin it was just a true pleasure," Rogen said.
Rogen also had some royal excitement with the highly anticipated movie: The European premiere Sunday night at London's Leicester Square was attended by Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
"It was very nice to meet the Duke and Duchess, their royal majesties. It was very exciting," director Jon Favreau said.
Rogen had a different take, saying, "It was weird watching a movie with so many royal themes with actual royalty."
"I kept thinking, 'Is this connecting with them in a way I don't understand?'" he laughed.
One aspect of the movie that both Favreau and Rogen agreed translates on-screen is the "dynamic" interaction between the characters.
"We were really able to kind of create a dynamic amongst each other," Rogen said. "Jon really encouraged us to try things and to make it feel as naturalistic and kind of conversational as possible."
Favreau added that working with an A-list cast whose backgrounds were rooted in improv helped feed into that energy.
"I knew Donald Glover more as a comedian and improviser and both he and Billy [Eichner] and Seth [Rogen] all come from that tradition of improvisational comedy, so I knew if I got all of us together, not only would we partner up for the performances, but we could keep rewriting it and keep finding new opportunities and part of that contributes to the live action feel that we're going for here," he explained.
"Even though we were animating to their voices, we wanted to make it feel like you were watching something that was actually filmed in real life and I think that conversational quality carried the day," he said.
Favreau also explained that remaking the iconic Disney movie, which he called "the first film that was part of the videotape generation," came with "a lot of pressure to get it right."
"But thanks to social media, thanks to the reaction that we've gotten to the trailer I feel really comfortable and excited and I can't wait for everybody to see the film on the 19th," the director said.
"The Lion King" opens nationwide Friday, July 19 from Disney, parent company of ABC News.
