OJ Lynch Narrated 1,400 Days of Lion Footage Without Seeing a Single Frame

OJ Lynch has played Mufasa on stage in Germany. Narrating National Geographic’s four-part series “Lion” asked something different of him, he said, and taught him things about real prides that no stage production could.

Speaking with Where Is The Buzz, Lynch said the footage he saw revealed a family dynamic well outside the story he had performed onstage.

“There were a few times where that did occur, and certainly watching the fathers’ interaction with their young sons,” Lynch said. “It was interesting that there’s a moment where they ostracize the young ones because they’re getting too strong and too powerful. So that was something that was far removed from what we played on stage. That was something that I certainly learned about lions then, and the brotherhood, the way that they support each other and the way that Kio’s brothers, they come to help him grieve in the moment where Summer is gone. And how he goes to look for them when they’re ostracized. So there’s a lovely sense of union between them, a strong bond that holds them together.”

The series pairs its imagery with a score by Hans Zimmer, a combination that leaves a narrator less room to push. Asked whether he and the directors ever disagreed about how much emotion to bring to a scene, Lynch said the collaboration never reached that point.

“There was never a moment where there was a disagreement about how much to give, because if you play the truth and the honesty of the moment, then it rings true, and that’s what we tried to do,” he said. “That’s a testament to the writing skills of all the producers of the series. We start with the scratch commentary, where they craft the script into the final version. So we have those moments where it evolves into something that we see as an audience at the end. It was more of a coming together, working together, to get the best version of ‘Lion’ as we possibly could. Once that base element was there, and then you’ve got the cinematography and the music on top, then everything, it’s like making a beautiful cake. All the ingredients come together, you bake it, and then boom, you’ve got something special.”

The production spanned four years and nearly 1,400 production days. Lynch recorded much of his narration without having seen any of it.

“The whole process for me was slightly different. I saw no footage whatsoever until I got to the final recording,” he said. “I was in Hamburg, Germany, and the production team were in Bristol. So I was relying on the producers, and they did a great job in instructing me and giving me the tools to use. They would describe the scenes and what was required, and then I just had to lean into that. When I got to the final recording, I was able to watch the four films, and yeah, it does change slightly because you can see where you want to go emotionally and feel it for yourself by viewing it for yourself. I think that process was a little more enhanced, but I think the job of all the four producers was spectacular in helping me to get the right tone that was required for all the films.”

Audiences may come to the series with Disney in mind, but wild prides bring infanticide, starvation and cubs that do not survive. Lynch said the honesty of those moments came from the writing, and that the narrator’s job is to stay out of the way.

“That was all part of the creative process for the producers. There were certain strands that we pulled on which then didn’t work, and they were let go of,” he said. “But with the emotion of some of the scenes, you just have to be, I always equate it to being a sports commentator, that you’re a kind of passive observer but trying to inform the audience honestly and not going over the top. You just tell the truth of the moment. I think all the very good narrators, Sir David Attenborough, they tell the truth of the moment, and I think that’s what then takes it to that next level.”