the subject sensitively but without laying it on too thick as a message the makers elba said created a backstory for the lion as it is uncharacteristic of them to attack humans separation anger and desperation were used to draw a connection between his character dr samuels and the animal i definitely believe there is a symmetry between the man and the lion they are connected by grief loss separation anger desperation we wanted not to just villainise the lion it needed to have a reason as to why its doing this as its very uncharacteristic for lions so it was important to layer its backstory which turns out quite similar in many ways to nates backstory all of that stuff sort of seeps into who they both were in the film elba said beast also features leah jeffries sharlto copley and iyana halley in pivotal roles