Auliʻi Cravalho had one crucial piece of advice for the new Moana actress in Disney‘s latest live-action adaptation. The remake also stars Dwayne Johnson reprising his voice role of demigod Maui from the animated movie series.
Auliʻi Cravalho mailed the new Moana actress before she took over
Auliʻi Cravalho was the original Moana on the big screen, who became everyone’s favorite with her captivating voice acting in the 2016 animated film. It earned widespread acclaim and became a major box office hit. Its success led to a 2024 animated sequel, with Cravalho reprising her role.
Interestingly, Cravalho is also part of Disney’s newly released live-action Moana, but she’s serving as an executive producer, instead of playing the titular character. Catherine Laga’aia is playing the role of the popular character in the new iteration.
During a promotional interview with People, Cravalho revealed that she had actually reached out to Laga’aia through email before they even met on the live-action movie’s set. Apparently, Cravalho had some words of wisdom for the new Moana actress. In the email, she wrote, “In the very beginning I was like, ‘I’m here if you need me. But also, this is entirely your own. This is your film.’”
Cravalho wanted Laga’aia to portray her own version of Moana rather than the animated one. She didn’t want the live-action version to be “exactly as it was — as much as we would love that because yeah, it was a perfect movie.”
Once she saw Laga’aia on the sets alongside Johnson, Cravalho was confident that the new Moana actress would do justice to the character. “So she didn’t need nothing from me.”
Last month, Cravalho, Laga’aia, and Johnson recorded a special promotional song for the film, titled Along The Way. The live-action Moana movie is now playing in theaters.
