Disney released the trailer for their live-action remake of Moana, and viewers got to see Dwayne Johnson reprise his role of Maui.
Johnson’s look as the demigod has divided fans of the animated film, and in a new interview, the actor and film director Thomas Kail explained the design behind Maui.
“We knew that it had to be something that could have real lift to it,” Kail told Entertainment Weekly about Johnson’s wig for the film. “Because you’re doing this on the water, ‘what does it look like wet?’ is a real conversation when you’re making Moana. That one weighs seven pounds more with all the water in it for all those hours a day.”
Johnson said that the “challenge” he didn’t anticipate in bringing Maui to life was “the prosthetics and the hair and then the body,” adding, “That is an additional 40 pounds on you.”
“There’s a freedom when you perform, whether it’s as an actor or singing,” he continued. “So that was an adjustment on how to actually work my emotions through the 40 pounds of prosthetics and hair and body that I had on me.”
Johnson noted that he shot Moana after starring in Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, for which he had to gain weight, but then had to lose weight for Safdie’s Lizard Music.
“Maui was a big guy, and I couldn’t lose the weight because when you lose weight, you lose it here,” he says, pointing to his neck. “I couldn’t have a big bodysuit and then a small little skinny neck. Forty, 50 pounds is a lot to put on. Then it’s a lot to maintain for months… It was grueling because of the suit and how hot it was. Wait till you see pictures. In between takes, there’s literally five, six people, all [with] fans, opening me up, pulling my hair back.”
The former wrestler also made mention on what making this film represents for the Polynesian culture and people, saying, “You realize that you’re representing cultures and people who came before you who were voyagers, they were warriors, they were slaves, in many cases they had the language taken away, in many cases had their land stolen but got it back, persevered.”
“There’s still this pride and joy and this idea of community and culture and sharing, as opposed to gatekeeping. We all share in this. We all share it together. So you feel that responsibility, and it does hit differently.
Moana will open in theaters on July 10.