these similarities were not initially intentional and came as a surprise to the filmmakers themselves; they noticed the similarities only after the story was established and they eventually decided to pursue it. According to Hahn, "When we first pitched the revised outline of the movie ... someone in the room announced that its themes and relationships were similar to Hamlet. Everyone responded favorably to the idea that we were doing something Shakespearean, so we continued to look for ways to model our film on that all-time classic." Screenwriter Jonathan Roberts said that, in a musical, songs are used to convey a character's emotions and "I wants." Composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice wrote the song "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" in order to give Simba a medium through which he can express his desire to become King of the Pride Lands. Roberts said, "It's a way for storytellers to move the story and deliver the direction of the character." Voice Matthew Broderick provided the speaking voice of adult Simba. The first actor to be assigned to The Lion King, Broderick learned of the role while he was on vacation in Ireland, where he received a telephone call from his agent informing him that the directors were interested in casting him as Simba after seeing his film Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). The directors decided to cast him as Simba because they felt that he was "perfect" for the role; according to producer Don Hahn, Broderick's voice resembled "the kind of character who could be irresponsible and likeable, but you also felt that he could come back in a very heroic way." Minkoff recalled that the actor "was able to humanize the hero character ... and give Simba a lot of depth", preventing the hero from "becoming 2-dimensional" using "brought a great deal of sensitivity and thoughtfulness to the role along with sincerity and a sense of humor." Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who was starring as Randy Taylor on the television sitcom Home Improvement at the time, was cast as the speaking voice of young Simba. His appearance and personality would later serve as creative inspiration for supervising animator Mark Henn. Despite often singing in his work, Broderick opted not to perform his own vocals in the film. Toto lead singer Joseph Williams and actor Jason Weaver were hired to dub their respective singing voices. Williams' voice is heard