main plot of the film. Ella Ceron of Thought Catalog observed that "At [Simba's] return, she's not exactly the friendliest little kitten, either ... but is willing to overlook her own hurt ego in the spirit of their friendship. She believes in Simba, and doesn't understand why he wouldn't want to fight for his right to rule." Voice and music The speaking voice of adult Nala is provided by American actress Moira Kelly. Kelly (who rose her fame in Robert Downey Jr film Chaplin) learned that Disney was auditioning actresses for the role of Nala from her agent. Despite having not been the directors' first choice for the role, Kelly was allowed to audition because the filmmakers were interested in hearing different voices at the time. Kelly believes the directors had been searching for a specific "quality of voice ... a sort of authoritative voice but with a lot of warmth" to complement Nala's sensible yet nurturing personality. After attending a series of callbacks, during which Kelly returned to Disney several times to re-read the character's lines, Kelly was selected as one of two finalists. Kelly would not officially be offered the part until several months after her audition; Disney's first choice for the role remains undisclosed. Actor Matthew Broderick, voice of Simba, had already begun recording alongside another actress who had been cast as Nala before that actress was replaced with Kelly. Broderick was not informed that his original co-star had been recast, and only learned that Nala was voiced by Kelly at the film's premiere. The film's entire recording process took approximately three years to complete, during which Kelly's sessions were held in both the United States and Canada, while her co-stars Broderick and Jeremy Irons, voice of Scar, were recording in the United States and England, respectively. Each main cast member recorded their dialogue separately, which took Kelly some time to get used to because she had grown accustomed to working with several other actors at a time on the sets of her live-action films. For The Lion King, a director would often take the place of another actor for Kelly to act opposite of. Vocally, Kelly decided to approach the role as though she were reading to a child, explaining, "it's kind of fun to play with different voices and try to color the lines for the child so they can imagine it more fully", which