Actor Dwayne Johnson has defended Disney’s decision to make a live-action adaptation of Moana just a decade after the original, while also reacting to the online buzz surrounding his long-haired look as demigod Maui, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s Los Angeles premiere, Johnson said he never believed audiences needed to wait decades before seeing a live-action version of the animated hit.
“To be honest with you, I never bought into this idea that ‘you have to wait 20 years, you have to wait 30 years, it’s too soon,'” Johnson said.
“I honestly never did, and not because I’m biased and I made the film, but because there’s themes and values in this, in animated Moana, that could translate really well if you saw a real human being going through it, and a real young girl going through it,” he added.
Johnson, who voiced Maui in the animated films and reprises the role in the live-action adaptation, said Disney first approached him with the idea in 2019, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Director Thomas Kail also backed the timing of the adaptation, saying a decade was enough time for a new generation of audiences.
“All those 7-year-olds who saw it that are 17, all those 10-year-olds who are 20, those are seismic changes in our lives,” Kail said, adding that people wanted to revisit characters they loved. Drawing on his theatre background, he noted, “We do revivals all the time” to bring fresh life to beloved stories.
Producer and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda said the live-action remake offered an opportunity to authentically represent Pacific Islander culture.
“It’s one thing to represent Pacific Islander culture in an animated movie; it’s another to give Pacific Islanders jobs and opportunities and really represent their culture in a flesh and blood way on screen. That was exciting to us,” Miranda said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He also credited the casting of Catherine Laga’aia as Moana, saying she was selected from 32,000 submissions
Johnson also addressed the viral reaction to his appearance in the film, particularly the long wig worn by Maui.
“It was so funny,” he said, adding that he “spent 48 hours laughing at it, because the internet can be very funny at times, and I appreciate it,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Anytime you see a first look at something, you’re looking at it through a keyhole. I knew; I was like, ‘You’re not seeing the vast ocean of it all.’ It’s OK, give it time, I know we made a pretty good movie,” he said.
“I get it, I’m a pretty well-known bald actor and you see me all of a sudden with long flowing locks and curls,” Johnson added.
Explaining the creative decision behind Maui’s hairstyle, Kail said the character was initially designed as bald during development of the animated film. However, members of the Oceanic Cultural Trust, a group of Pacific Islander cultural consultants, advised the filmmakers otherwise.
“‘Maui’s hair is his power, there is no Maui without hair.’ So there was never a question so that’s why Maui had hair there and that’s why Maui has hair now,” Kail said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Joking about the now widely discussed wig, the director added, “I think when you see it in the body of the film, you get used to it pretty quick. It’s not the strangest thing in the world!”
