Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga'aia say Moana live action keeps Polynesian culture on course

Dwayne Johnson is back as Maui in Disney's live-action Moana, and Catherine Laga'aia is stepping into the spotlight as the next onscreen face of Moana. In an interview segment from Fandango's Big Ticket, the two stars frame the upcoming release as more than a remake. They describe it as a continuation of a representation story that started with the 2016 animated musical film.

Laga'aia, a 19-year-old actress new to Hollywood, points directly to the formative impact of the 2016 movie on viewers who grew up with it. “Moana the film was such an iconic and such an incredible thing to come out in 2016,” she said. “To get to grow up with that is such a joy, and it’s something that a lot of people didn’t get to experience when they were growing up. To have a representation of myself that was so close to who I was, especially when I was growing up, it opens new doors for you, and it got me here today.” That “opens new doors” line is the stake. It is not just about cultural visibility. It is about building who gets to imagine themselves as part of the industry and as part of the story.

To understand why this matters for executives, you have to rewind to what Moana did in 2016. Released in 2016, the animated musical film followed Moana, voiced by Auli'i Cravalho, the daughter of a village chief who sets out on an adventure to restore a mystical relic to the goddess Te Fiti. The source describes the film as breaking barriers and championing representation by giving viewers Disney's first Polynesian princess, along with what it calls a unique and rare depiction of Polynesian culture on the silver screen. It also emphasizes that Moana was headstrong, fierce, determined, and proud of her heritage, while drawing from Polynesian mythology.

A decade later, that reputation is on the line again, because the live-action remake is heading to theaters on July 10. The project is directed by Thomas Kail, known for Hamilton, and it is designed to continue the journey Disney started with the animated film. Johnson, who voiced demigod Maui in the 2016 animated version and returns to reprise the role in live action, says the experience is special not just because he is stepping into a familiar character, but because of how the production handled culture during the shoot. He and Laga'aia both pointed to the inclusion of cultural advisors on set as a key example.

Johnson's framing is blunt about intent. “Everybody involved with this project, they were so deeply invested in not only making a great movie, but also deeply invested in the presentation of a culture and how important that was,” Johnson said. For studios and boards, that is effectively a governance statement: representation is not treated as a marketing add-on. It is treated as a production risk factor that the team actively manages.

And Johnson brings the risk closer to home by connecting Maui to his own family story. “The character of Maui was inspired by my grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia,” Johnson said. That personal lineage becomes part of the reason he describes his return as more than a nostalgia play. In the same interview, Johnson also highlights what he calls “the coolest front row seat,” watching Laga'aia inhabit Moana in live action. He recounts an experience after the film wrapped when young children on set were looking up to Laga'aia, “enamored and mesmerized.” “It dawned on me,” Johnson said, “they’ve grown up with animated Moana, and for them, this is who it is… That’s the reminder.”

That “reminder” is the second-order effect worth tracking. The casting and cultural stewardship are likely to shape how new audiences interpret identity and credibility in the franchise. If young viewers see someone who looks like them and carries their cultural story with care, the franchise becomes not just entertainment but infrastructure for aspiration. Laga'aia basically spells it out as her full-circle hope. She describes her casting as Moana as almost a “full-circle moment,” because it places her as the helm for a new generation of young Polynesian people who can “once more see themselves and their culture accurately and lovingly depicted on screen” but this time in live action.

She also makes the ambition specific. “Getting to represent all of the Pacific Islands - but more specifically for me, getting to represent Samoa and where I come from - is such a blessing and it’s such an honor,” she said. “I can really only hope that our movie gets to do that for the next generation of kids.” Finally, the source ties off the logistical stake: Moana opens in theaters on July 10.

For executives, the strategic question is simple: can a remake preserve the cultural trust the original earned while modernizing the format and broadening reach? The interviews suggest the production is treating cultural advisors as part of the core operating system, and they imply that Johnson and Laga'aia view the audience impact as immediate, not theoretical. In other words, representation here is not a caption. It is a process, and the next generation is the customer evaluating whether the process holds.