Despite Beyoncé missing the “Lion King” cast photo shoot, co-star John Oliver said the mere thought of her presence was intimidating enough.
“She wasn’t there on Friday night,” Oliver told said during an appearance with on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” “But there was a marker on the floor noting where she’d be photoshopped in.
“Chiwetel [Ejiofor] was sitting in the front and he said, ‘You need to be careful where your foot is,’ and I look down on the floor and there was just this piece of tape on the floor with Beyonce’s name on it.”
The “Last Week Tonight” host, who plays Zazu in the live-action film released Friday, said his response was like “an electrical reaction … just the future presence of Beyonce was so intimidating.”
And looking at his face in the film’s official photo, he explains his deer-in-headlights look.
“What I’m doing is imagining that I am about to be put into a photo with Beyoncè one day and that was nerve-wracking enough!”
During their interview where Oliver jokingly referred to himself as a “movie star” following the hype of the Disney remake, the Brit referred to the “Halo” singer as the “actual queen,” a comment that got mixed reviews from the “Late Show” audience.
“It didn’t seem like that was that controversial to say!” he said. “If you had a choice to choose between Beyoncé and Queen Elizabeth II, is anyone including Queen Elizabeth II taking the second one?”