Finding the Newness in a Story: Jeff Nathanson Discusses ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’

Disney’s animated The Lion King hit theaters in 1994 and became a cultural phenomenon. Its messages of bravery, unconditional love, and family bonds resonate today just as much as they did then. In 2019, a photorealistically animated retelling of the film was released by Disney, with Jon Favreau at the helm as director and Jeff Nathanson as writer. The latest entry in The Lion King saga is Mufasa: The Lion King, with Barry Jenkins as director and Jeff Nathanson returning as scribe. One could call it an origin story, but Jeff doesn’t. “I know it’s called an origin story or a prequel, but I don’t really give those words much thought. Pretty much everything I write is in some way an origin story and almost every movie is in some way.”

Jeff has been in the business for over thirty years, starting out in television and then branching off into film. The Los Angeles native has written for franchises such as Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean as well as penned hits like Catch Me If You Can. He recently spoke with Script about what it takes to start a career in writing and how to maintain it.

Sonya Alexander: How did you first get the writing bug?

Jeff Nathanson: That started when I was very young. I was about thirteen and I just started to write a book one day for some reason. I sort of went from there. I started writing for newspapers when I was in high school. I very much enjoyed the solitude of writing from a very young age.

Sonya Alexander: You were a P.A. on Perfect Strangers?

Jeff Nathanson: Yeah.

Sonya Alexander: How’d you get that gig and what did you learn from it?

Jeff Nathanson: A friend of mine got me the job. I was a P.A. several times on different things. I would say it’s a great place to start because you get to be a fly on the wall and see the process. I worked for the two showrunners, so I got to see two people who were in charge of a show and see what their life was like and bring them their coffee and their food. It was exciting. I loved any job where I can drive onto a movie studio lot. It didn’t matter what I was doing. But driving through those gates was something I looked forward to when I got a job.

Sonya Alexander: What was the first spec you sold?

Jeff Nathanson: I was hired by Imagine Entertainment to write a movie for them and that never got made, thankfully…!

Sonya Alexander: Thankfully?

Jeff Nathanson: It wasn’t a very good script.

Sonya Alexander: What was the genre?

Jeff Nathanson: It was a kids movie. Somebody there had read something of mine and plucked me out of obscurity and said, “you get to do it.” So, I got my very first break. I couldn’t get an agent. I couldn’t get any traction. I couldn’t find work. It was interesting. Once I got the first job, it quickly opened doors that had been very much closed. I was able to get an agent. I was able to start the slow process. But it wasn’t exactly a quick climb to the top…! [laughs] It was a slow crawl.

Sonya Alexander: What do you think the art of pitching is?

Jeff Nathanson: Keeping it short. I think people tend to overpitch and they sometimes forget to pitch the core idea, the main idea of their thing. So, by the time the people hear the brilliant idea, it’s thirty minutes in and their eyes are already glazed over. You’ve lost them. I would lead with my best stuff and try to keep it under five minutes. Then be ready to answer as many questions as they have.

Sonya Alexander: How many hours a week do you write?

Jeff Nathanson: I probably write somewhere between four and six hours a day. When I say write, that means I’m working on something. That could be reading over what I’ve already written. It could be editing something I’ve written. It could be researching something I’ve done. I group these things into the writing process. The process is the full day.

Sonya Alexander: What are the challenges of writing family films compared to comedy or action films?

Jeff Nathanson: I think it’s all really hard. I don’t think there’s any easy way out of this. I think family films pose certain difficulties because you are trying to please the parents as well as the kids and find that balance. That balance is not always easy to find. That’s always the trick. Tone.

Sonya Alexander: How did you get attached to Jon Favreau’s The Lion King?

Jeff Nathanson: I was working for Disney on Pirates of the Caribbean. I was in Australia on the set. Sam Dickerman, who is a wonderful executive over at Disney, tapped me on the shoulder and said “We may have a project you may be interested in.” They told me what it was, and I said, “Absolutely.”

Sonya Alexander: How was writing this one compared to that one?

Jeff Nathanson: This is a very, very different experience all the way around. Obviously the first one, in 2019, that’s the original story that we’re trying to stay true to so we were very limited to what people would expect and want. This is a whole new original story, so it allowed us to go in different directions and explore new things. It was a completely different process for me.

Sonya Alexander: Did you have to research animals for either one?

Jeff Nathanson: I do more behavior stuff. I like to learn about animal and lion behavior. It does help in some way and certainly, in this script, there’s a whole piece of it that involves the differences between the male lions and the female lions. How they think and what their jobs are. Who hunts and who doesn’t? All of that played into the process in some way.

Sonya Alexander: Obviously, the original The Lion King inspired your films but how did you make them your own?

Jeff Nathanson: I don’t think about that stuff, and I don’t know how you could if you’re really trying to write something. I just think about the story and what’s the story I want to tell. And what’s the style of that story? And what is it about it that I find emotional and interesting? So, it’s a different kind of approach, I guess. For this one, I viewed it as a love story. The obvious love story between Mufasa and Sarabi. Between the two brothers. Between Mufasa and Rafiki.

Sonya Alexander: This could be considered a musical drama. How’s it decided where the musical numbers go?

Jeff Nathanson: The studio asked me. I’m the least musical person that ever lived…! [laughs] I tried to take guitar lessons when I was a kid, and the guy quit on the first day. I was asked by the studio to please insert songs in my script, even though they’d be like dummy songs, placeholders. You learn very quickly where those rhythms might land, where those pieces might go. I’m very proud of the fact that a lot of the places where I said maybe a song could go here and wrote stuff, as it went up the food chain, those placeholders remained. Sometimes they did not. Obviously, when you bring in someone like Barry Jenkins, then you have Lin-Manuel [Miranda] doing your music, he’s able to very easily see where the music should be. I thought he did an amazing job.

Sonya Alexander: I know that your writing process for Catch Me If You Can took a long time. How long was the process for Mufasa?

Jeff Nathanson: These films take a long time, so the writing process is really the same, whatever it is. It’s usually somewhere between two and four months. And then all the rewrites and all the other stuff that comes with it. But these films are very slow-moving trains. The whole experience can be several years. You aren’t writing that whole time, but you are being asked to help out…like come to a voice recording and help out with some of the lines an actor needs. It’s a long journey.

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Sonya Alexander: You’ve said that putting chemistry on the page is important. How do you do that?

Jeff Nathanson: It’s weird because you almost have to see it in your head. Usually, that means that you have characters that are hopefully engaging and interesting. If that happens, you can start seeing that form in your head. If it works in your head, sometimes it will work on the page. Chemistry is one of the most elusive things in the arts, certainly in moviemaking. It’s so difficult to find that spark and when you do, it’s the greatest thing ever.

Sonya Alexander: Do you have a certain spot where you like to write, or do you change spots?

Jeff Nathanson: I move around. I go from coffee shop to coffee shop. I’ve been in every Starbucks in L.A. I work at home. I work in restaurants. Airports. Before I had kids, I was very regimented. I had to start at a certain time and finish at this time. I liked to work at night. But after I had kids, that dictated when and how I would work.

Sonya Alexander: You’ve been in the industry a long time. What would you say are some of the changes you’ve noticed?

Jeff Nathanson: Obviously, these days the big change is streaming and what’s going on with theatrical. It affects everyone, it’s affected me. But I find at the end of the day the writing is the same. It might be delivered to people in a different way, but I think it’s very similar to what it always was.

Sonya Alexander: How was it working with Barry Jenkins?

Jeff Nathanson: Barry’s great. He’s someone who has the entire encyclopedia of filmmaking at his fingertips at all times. He finds true beauty in every shot. He just naturally gravitates towards these gorgeous shots. I’ve worked with a lot of talented directors and he’s right up there. He’s a very gifted, talented guy.

Sonya Alexander: Is there someone you’d like to work with who you haven’t worked with?

Jeff Nathanson: I haven’t gotten to work with Martin Scorsese. That was always a dream of mine.

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Sonya Alexander: Who would you say are some of your greatest influences?

Jeff Nathanson: I was a child of the 70s. There are just wonderful movies from that era. There were just so many wonderful movies, it was hard not to get the bug and get bitten by it.

Sonya Alexander: For someone who’s new to writing, how should they get their first agent or their foot in the door?

Jeff Nathanson: The main thing is to find the idea so you’re not spending time on things that stand no chance within the marketplace. It’s really important to find an original voice. It’s important not to cater to what’s already out there. Be true to who you are and your voice. Once you have that original voice and have that stamped on things, then find the idea. That’s the magic formula. An original voice and an original idea will always find its way onto somebody’s desk and get read.

Sonya Alexander: What do you find most rewarding about writing?

Jeff Nathanson: I love every part of it. I love, like with Mufasa, just walking around and coming up with an idea and telling it to a few people and seeing if they like it. I love that part. I love writing scripts. I love the whole moviemaking process. I don’t always love being on set because there’s usually no room for a writer and you’re always in the way. I love the editing process. I love watching the release of the films and what’s going to happen to them. I try to stay with the film from beginning to end. There’s no part of it that I don’t find, even now after thirty years, very, very fascinating.

Mufasa: The Lion King’s voice cast includes Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Tiffany Boone, and Blue Ivy Carter. The Disney release opened in theaters on December 20, 2024.