And while he could throw the sun and take advantage of the breeze, he needed a little help getting Maui’s hair down.
“The first time they saw me as Maui, they were like, ‘Oh,'” said Johnson, whose daughters Simone, 24, Jasmine (with ex Danny Garcia), 10, and Tiana (with wife Lauren Hashian, 8) were given fake locks. “It was probably uncomfortable for them for about 10 minutes. You can tell just by looking at me with hair, but there’s a lot of hair.”
But for Johnson, dealing with extra hair and muscles wasn’t the trickiest part of the filming experience. Instead, they were learning the choreography for each musical number.
“These are beloved, iconic songs, and this is our live-action version, so you have to step up to the plate,” he explained to E! “And I feel the pressure. I have to bring my plus-plus game to this.”
Who is a good teammate for Lagaia, a 19-year-old Australian actress with two thumbs? “You need a great partner,” Johnson pointed out. “That’s what I had.”
What else can he say other than, well, you know. And with the live-action Moana movie hitting theaters on July 10, we dug deep to uncover these secrets behind the OG movie.
