Disney has been on a roll with their live-action films for quite a bit. Like any normal warm-blooded nerd, I counted myself as jaded and cynical when it came to Disney’s live-action movies. Sure, it’s cool and all, but are they really necessary? The answer is an absolute “no,” but that didn’t stop me from having a good time in movies like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and The Jungle Book, now did it?

All of a sudden, we have movies like The Lion King in the works, and I find myself strangely excited at the prospect of seeing a “live-action” interpretation (I used air quotes because it’s actually animated…but animated to look real). Several months back, the House of Mouse announced their cast, and set to play the warthog Pumbaa was none other than resident stoner Seth Rogen.

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Speaking with ET Online, the actor expressed his excitement at joining the project, saying:

“It’s thrilling! Its amazing for many reasons. One is because I’m a big fan of The Lion King. Two is because it’s the most expensive movie I’ll have anything to do with probably, so that’s thrilling. Jon Favreau, the director, I’ve known since I was 18, is a very close friend of mine. So again, it’s always exciting to get to work with people that you know well. Yeah and we’re good friends. Overall it’s surreal. It will be weird when it comes out.”

That’s an interesting piece of trivia — while I knew that Rogen and Favreau were friendly, I didn’t realize their relationship actually went back that far, which really goes to show just how crazy small and incestuous the Hollywood film industry is.

Either way, I think most of us are interested to see what Favreau cooks up in his film, and how Rogen will sound when all said and done.

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SOURCE: ET