Lin-Manuel Miranda on ‘Mufasa’ and the secret to a Disney hit

When director Barry Jenkins approached Lin-Manuel Miranda about writing the songs for “Mufasa,” Disney’s new photorealistic prequel to the 2019 remake of “The Lion King,” he was, to say the least, a little busy.

It was the summer of 2021, and Miranda had just finished writing the soundtrack for “Encanto,” also from Disney. He was editing his feature directorial debut, the Jonathan Larson biopic “Tick, Tick … Boom!” He was doing press — or about to — for those two movies, along with two more: “In the Heights” (the adaptation of his Tony Award-winning musical) and “Vivo.” But Miranda, a longtime “Lion King” fan, knew that if he turned down Jenkins on “Mufasa,” he would regret it.

“I basically said to him, ‘I am in serious need of a nap, and I need to finish this movie. And if you can wait like six months for me, I think I can help you,’” said Miranda, 44. Jenkins could wait, it turned out. The resultant film (in theaters) includes seven songs written by Miranda, who is best known as the creator of the musical “Hamilton.” The movie tells the story of how Mufasa grew up and came to power before Simba was born.

Miranda wrote a romantic ballad, the Mufasa/Sarabi duet “Tell Me It’s You”; he crafted a villain song for Mads Mikkelsen’s white lion (“Bye Bye”); and dreamed up a rollicking number for Mufasa and his surrogate brother Taka that was inspired by the relationship between his own young sons (“I Always Wanted a Brother”).