Director Barry Jenkins finds echoes from his past in new Lion King

Paris: Oscar winning director Barry Jenkins says he nearly turned down the chance to direct Disney s new blockbuster, a prequel to The Lion King , be...

Paris: Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins says he nearly turned down the chance to direct Disney's new blockbuster, a prequel to "The Lion King", before realising it contained many of the themes that helped make his name.

Only when his agents insisted he read the script did he accept the role for "Mufasa: The Lion King", which hits screens next week in the United States and Europe.

At first sight, it seems a far cry from the poignant drama of "Moonlight", his triple Oscar-winning 2016 breakthrough exploring identity, race and poverty, but he says it's not as far as it seems.

"It wasn't until I read the script that I realised," he told AFP in a pre-release interview. "There were so many of the themes, so many of the character dynamics, so much of the journey that felt directly related to all the things I've been doing."