To Be King: Making The Lion King, by Michael Goldman, American Cinematographer

Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, ASC and visual-effects supervisor Robert Legato, ASC team up in virtual space to shoot the photo-real reimagining of an animated favorite.

Unit photography by Michael Legato and Glen Wilson. 
All images courtesy of Disney Enterprises Inc.

Society members Caleb Deschanel and Robert Legato sat down at the ASC Clubhouse on a Saturday morning in May to discuss their shared adventure that was the making of Jon Favreau’s The Lion King, a photo-realistic reimagining of the classic Disney animated feature. As cinematographer, Deschanel employed revolutionary virtual-cinematography techniques; as visual-effects supervisor, Legato offered Deschanel the benefits of the many years he spent pioneering and then refining those techniques, starting with his work on James Cameron’s Avatar (AC Jan. 2010) and then Favreau’s previous feature, The Jungle Book (AC May ’16). 

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