Dwayne Johnson went straight from shooting his acclaimed performance as Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine to the set of Disney’s live-action adaptation of Moana.
The punishing production schedule didn’t allow the former WWE wrestler known as The Rock enough time to get his famously chiselled body into a decent approximation of his character, Maui.
Having voiced the shape-shifting demigod in two previous animated films, Johnson was required to wear a bulky bodysuit to bring Maui to life on the big screen.
As someone who takes the physical aspect of his performances as seriously as anyone in Hollywood, the 54-year-old wasn’t thrilled to need artificial muscles like the rest of us mere mortals.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking this is the vanity of a gym bro, because his disappointment at not getting the chance to put in the work to attain a demigod’s physique really reflects how invested he was in the project.
“It’s very personal for me,” Johnson says in an exclusive interview with PLAY. “The character of Maui was inspired by my grandfather, the high chief Peter Maivia.”
Johnson, who also serves as a producer on the film, gets visibly emotional talking about his grandfather, a legendary Samoan professional wrestler and elected clan leader of his people.
“That meant so much to me in the animated films, but, brother, making a live action and becoming Maui in that way, with his tattoos and the body and the hair, it was very surreal, and some days, admittedly, it was emotional,” Johnson says.
“I lost my grandfather when I was 10, he was one of my heroes, and I wish I had more time with him, but I get a chance now to embody his spirit with this character . . . and it’s really striking how they are exactly alike.”
Between the first Moana film in 2016 and the sequel in 2024, the franchise has amassed $2.45 billion at the global box office.
It’s a story of a headstrong daughter of a village chief in ancient Polynesia, who defies her father to set off on a dangerous voyage across the sea, striking an unlikely alliance with Maui along the way to save her people.
The tale has specificity to Pacific island cultures but universal themes.
The original also has an excellent array of musical numbers co-written by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and Samoan singer Opetaia Foaʻi.
Auliʻi Cravalho voiced the titular character in the animated films, but the live-action version sees Moana played by newcomer Catherine Laga’aia, the daughter of Aussie screen veteran Jay Laga’aia.
If you’re unsure just how momentous a task it is to make your big-screen debut in a Disney blockbuster, Johnson can answer that.
“This wasn’t a small, independent, slice-of-life movie, where Catherine played the daughter of the dad who didn’t want her to break out and go do things that she wanted,” Johnson explains.
“This is Moana, and it is beloved by families and people all around the world.
“And, then, when we came out with our first trailer, there was a lot of folks who just were so passionate, and they would say, ‘Wait, why would you make this? Who is this? Who’s Catherine? Who’s this new Moana?’
“If you have to contend with that as an adult, it’s one thing, but when you’re 17 and you take on this role, and it’s the title character, it’s the singing, it’s all of this stuff, and she did it with grace and with humility, you gotta have guts, and, man, I had a front-row seat in watching her every day.”
To be clear, there is no Moana without Laga’aia’s radiant central performance, which is even more impressive when you learn how hard she was trying not to be starstruck by her scene partner.
“Immediately off the bat, I was like, ‘OK, you can’t really treat him like Dwayne Johnson, he’s got to be like one of your brothers, one of your uncles’,” Laga’aia tells PLAY.
“You can say that as much as you want, but when you see Dwayne Johnson standing in front of you, it’s always going to be Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.”
The now 19-year-old says she focused on matching The Rock’s energy.
“He kind of has a very cool and calm energy about him, which I think is really helpful when I was on set, because you know you’re stressed, you don’t want to get things wrong, you don’t want to be nervous about things, but he’s always there, kind of level-headed and calm, so I feel like that was a nice energy to get to match,” she says.
Not that Johnson made it easy on her. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“I’m in these scenes with her, and I was unrelenting,” he confirms.
“That’s because it’s live action, and this film is important to me, and it’s important to our culture, and it’s important to get it right for all the people out there who loved the animated movies.
“So it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I consider you like my daughter, therefore I’m going to take it easy’, no, this is, ‘I’m Maui, I don’t want to be here, and I don’t like you’.
“But, man, she held her own in just beautiful ways. I was so proud of her.”
The adaptation is directed by Thomas Kail, making his feature film debut having built an enviable reputation as Miranda’s Tony-winning director on Broadway.
Kail also gave us the stunning live recording of Hamilton, which gave the world something to smile about on Disney Plus during the depths of the pandemic in 2020.
He couldn’t be happier to have Laga’aia as his Moana, and sees similarities between the two.
“There’s a profound sense of empathy and she approaches everything truthfully,” Kail says of his lead actor.
“Much like Moana can’t think of the sort of largeness of what she has to do, Catherine took it one moment at a time, one scene at a time, but she’s always telling the truth.
“This is a character who’s struggling to find out who she is, played by someone who’s always after the truth, and that just felt like a good combination.”
Considering Moana 2 made more than $US1 billion ($1.45b) at the box office, it’s not the craziest idea to think Disney would look at another live-action adaptation if the first one performs well.
“We hope people like this movie and, on other side of it, if they’re excited for something more to exist, that means that we did our part here, but we can let you know that we love (Moana 2) as well. That’s all I’m gonna say,” Kail laughs.
If the decision was based purely on Laga’aia’s career trajectory, it’s a no-brainer.
“When this film comes out, life as she knows it has changed forever, and that’s a cool thing,” Johnson says.
Moana is in cinemas July 8.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails