Roger Allers, Co-Director of Disney's The Lion King, Dies Aged 76
The animation world mourns the loss of Roger Allers, the visionary co-director behind Disney's monumental hit The Lion King, who has died at the age of 76. Allers played a pivotal role in revitalising Disney's animation division during the late 1980s and 1990s, contributing to what became known as the Disney Renaissance.
The Lion King: From Troubled Production to Global Phenomenon
Co-directing with Rob Minkoff, Allers helped transform The Lion King from a project initially titled King of the Jungle into a Shakespearean-inspired epic that transposed Hamlet to the African savannah. The film, featuring Simba's journey after his father Mufasa's murder by the scheming Scar, became a cultural landmark, grossing $979 million worldwide and spawning a record-breaking stage musical, sequels, and remakes.
Despite its eventual success, the production faced significant challenges. The film had lost a director early on, and script problems were so severe that top animators reportedly hesitated to join. Allers, having already demonstrated his storytelling prowess on Oliver & Company and contributed to hits like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, was brought in to stabilise the project.
Producer Don Hahn credited Allers and Minkoff with deepening the emotional core of the film, particularly the father-son relationship between Mufasa and Simba. Allers, who had recently lost his own father, admitted the material resonated deeply with him, informing the film's touching moments, such as Simba placing his paw in his father's footprint.
Career Highlights and Creative Struggles
Born in Rye, New York, and raised in Arizona, Allers was captivated by animation from childhood, inspired by Disney's Peter Pan. After studying fine arts and travelling extensively, he began his career working on projects like Animalympics and the innovative Tron before joining Disney in 1985.
Following The Lion King's success, Allers faced creative difficulties with his next Disney project, Kingdom in the Sun (later released as The Emperor's New Groove). A behind-the-scenes documentary, The Sweatbox, captured the production's turmoil, including clashes with musician Sting over song structure and studio pressure to overhaul the film into a comedy. Allers eventually left the production, expressing his artistic frustration by comparing the work to Picasso's paintings or Beethoven's symphonies.
Allers continued to contribute to Disney films, including writing for The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata, which cleverly reimagined the original story through side characters Timon and Pumbaa, much like Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead does for Hamlet.
Later Work and Personal Life
After leaving Disney, Allers directed the Oscar-nominated short The Little Matchgirl and co-directed Open Season. He also oversaw Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, coordinating multiple directors to create a cohesive narrative from Gibran's poems, a project he embraced due to the book's personal significance.
In his personal life, Allers was married to Leslee Hackenson until their divorce in 2020, with whom he had two children, Leah and Aidan. He later married musician Genaro Pereira, with whom he was collaborating on a musical about poet Jean de la Fontaine at the time of his death.
Describing his artistic style, Allers emphasised storytelling with sincere emotion and joie de vivre, preferring traditional animation for its personal artistic signature. His legacy endures through the timeless films that continue to captivate audiences worldwide.
