Washington: American actors Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, who are co-starring with singer Beyonce in the recently released ‘The Lion King’, didn’t meet Queen Bey until the world premiere of the flick, which took place earlier this month.
Speaking about meeting Beyonce for the first time ever, Eichner said, “She was really lovely,” reported Variety.
Eichner and Rogen sat down for this week’s episode of ‘The Big Ticket’, Variety and iHeart’s movie podcast.
“We happened to be backstage together. Seth and I were the first ones backstage waiting to go and then Beyonce was the next person.
Seth and I were just in the corner not knowing what to do or say. She came right up to us, introduced herself and gave us all hugs,” Eichner said.
“She said, ‘Hello,’ and I was like, ‘Hi, I’m Billy Eichner, I play Timon,'” he continued. “And she was like, ‘I know,’ and gave us a hug. She could not have been nicer,” he added.
Eichner has not asked Bey to be on his show ‘Billy on the Street’.
“I’m not bothering Beyonce with that. She has enough to do. Maybe, Jay-Z, he’s from New York,” he said.
Rogen had never witnessed an audience reaction like the one Beyonce received when director Jon Favreau introduced her at the premiere.
“She is the only person I’ve seen get a standing ovation before they do anything, for just existing. And it just made sense. No part of me was like, ‘She doesn’t deserve a standing ovation for just existing.’ I was just like, Yes! Everyone stand up,” he said.
While the films opened to mixed reviews, most critics heaped praises on Eichner and Rogen for their work as Timon and Pumbaa.
“The first day we recorded, we were in this black box theatre with JD McCrary, who plays young Simba. We were trying to get our lines right and Jon was like, ‘Put down the scripts and just act out the scene as though you know the point of the scene. You find this little lion, you are scared, you debate talking and you try to help him,” Rogen said.
“We were running around each other. We were kind of embodying the characters on our feet,” Eichner added.
Rogen said, “It was pretty amazing and they used a lot of stuff.”
Helmed by Jon Favreau, ‘The Lion King’, hit the theatres on July 19 in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.