Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson bit his tongue for three years, now he’s ready to ‘tell the world’

Exclusive: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has defended the decision to turn Disney’s beloved animation Moana into a live-action spectacle, three years on from the film’s announcement.

Despite the excitement surrounding his return as Maui, the film initially sparked online fury from fans worried it would ruin the animated classic’s legacy. Johnson, 54, told nine.com.au that he understood where the scepticism came from.

“You’re going to get that, the internet is going to internet. I’m not dismissing that because I get it, especially when something is beloved,” he said.

After watching the internet debate unfold following the film’s announcement in 2023, the actor confessed he came close to addressing the backlash publicly, but chose to stay silent – that is, until now.

“I didn’t ever want to say this because I didn’t want to engage in that way, but I wanted to tell people so badly, ‘As passionate as you are about Moana, so am I,’” he said.

“I love this. It’s my family, it’s my culture,” Johnson continued, saying he “just knew” the film would work.

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Johnson also addressed the big question everyone was asking – why remake it in the first place?

“I get a chance to tell you now ... now I can tell the world,” he began.

“I really felt there was an opportunity [here], there’s a vibrancy, and there’s a beauty and a power in our culture that you can feel in the animated version, but you live it in the real life version.”

Director Thomas Kail also defended the decision, adding there’s “inherent reason” in bringing something to life in a new form.

“One of the things that happens when you put this on its feet with real flesh and blood, you have a different reaction to it,” he told nine.com.au.

“By changing the form and making it live action, and having two characters look at each other eye to eye, there’s something else that it stirs up in us.”

The film follows the same plot as the 2016 animated version, with the same beloved characters and soundtrack; however, Johnson explained filming the live-action version came with heightened emotions.

He confessed he got teary-eyed watching the scene where Moana’s grandmother passes away.

“When she says ‘Hey I’m going to come back, things will be different, but I’ll always be with you,’ – that makes me emotional,” he said.

“We all lose our loved ones, but we’re comforted by [the thought of them] coming back in a different way.”

Johnson also got emotional when he saw himself in full character for the first time, as demigod Maui’s design was based on his late grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia.

“My grandfather, like a lot of Samoan high chiefs, had the full Peʻa, which is the tattoos,” he said.

“All of our markings; they mean something to us … so when I saw myself fully, hair and all, that made me emotional.

“I was looking at my grandfather. What a way to honour him.”

Johnson starred alongside Aussie actress Catherine Laga’aia, who made her Hollywood debut as Moana.

Laga’aia said finding out she got the role was an “incredibly surreal moment.”

“I had the feeling in my chest that it was going to be good news, but you never want to hope too hard in case it doesn’t go your way,” she told nine.com.au.

“Tommy (Kail) jumped on and told me I’d got it. I was with my mum, so she was the first person to find out. She was just the perfect person to share this news with.”

Disney’s Moana will hit theatres on July 8.