Imagine you’re eating a themed lunch surrounded by new and old friends, talking about the year’s latest movies. You discuss your favorite films of 2024, and exchange theories about the highly anticipated Moana 2. This was the setting in the middle of a sunny day at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California, when I had the opportunity to visit the studio for an early peak at the making of the sequel film.
2016’s Moana soared to popularity, with a gross box office success over $686 million globally, and it has continued to be one of the most-watched films on streaming according to Nielsen data. In an article from January 2024, Nielsen shared that almost 80 billion minutes of Moana has been streamed and it was the most streamed movie of 2023. This equates to the film being watched 775 million times. Moana 2 releases in theaters November 27th and Auliʻi Cravalho, who was originally cast when she was only 14 years old, returns as Moana. Dwayne Johnson also returns as the demigod Maui, and the film is directed by David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller.
POC Culture was offered the opportunity to screen the first thirty minutes of the film, interview the filmmakers, as well as tour the Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California. In an eventful, almost surreal experience, I had the chance to participate in a voice acting session coached by one of the film’s cast members, learn to draw Mini Maui from an animator, speak to character designers, and meet other incredible artists who shared their craft. Ronni Brown of Skywalker Sound showed us the ins and outs of foley work – the art of creating sounds for media – and allowed us to try it as well. Using a wet cheese cube and hair gel to recreate the noises she created for the film was so much fun that I just may switch careers as soon as possible. In addition, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, the Grammy-winning songwriting duo for Moana 2 briefly made an appearance to perform one of the first songs in the film. It was a day packed with Disney magic, let’s break down the events of the day:
Before speaking with the various creators involved, we screened first thirty minutes of the sequel, which was followed by a Q&A with the directors. Jason Hand revealed that their approach to Moana 2, when it was intended to be a series instead of a film, was still the same way they would approach creating a feature. The creative team screened every iteration of the show in the same theater that we were sitting in. After screenings, every artist would say, “This needs to be on the big screen.” Once they were given the green light to turn it into a feature, “this film became even bigger than the first,” Hand said.
The Power of Representation Behind the Scenes
Dana Ledoux Miller shared her incredible relationship with Moana, saying that her career has changed because Moana exists in the world. Miller said that Moana was the first time she saw anyone who looks like her family on the screen. Miller explained that ten years ago, when she was a television writer, she would look around the rooms she was in and there weren’t any other Pacific Islanders with her. As she watched the original film in 2016, she realized the film would forever change the way people saw Pacific Islanders.
“I was pregnant when I watched the first film with my first child. And I distinctly remember sitting in that theater and thinking, the world is going to be different for my kid than it ever was for me, because Moana exists. People will understand whoever this kid is in a way that I never had,” Miller said.
Miller said that she also knew that Moana would change the way she could tell stories. What she couldn’t know was that she would later be hired to co-write the upcoming live-action Moana film with Jared Bush, and then be brought on to Moana 2 as a consulting writer.
“As this project very clearly needed to become a film, [I] was brought on to write that and direct that with these folks right here (referencing David G. Derrick Jr. and Jason Hand). But it’s been the experience of a lifetime for me. I’ve always dreamed of being able to truly represent my people and tell stories that were meaningful to us. And there’s really nothing bigger than Moana for us right now. So it’s very exciting to be here,” Miller said.
Miller then provided an excellent example of the importance of representation when it comes to working in Hollywood, being a writer or director and creating opportunities that previously didn’t exist for Pacific Islander creatives.
“When you make a film as big as Moana, which is the most streamed film still on streaming, it means that there is an understanding of what it means to be of the Pacific that didn’t exist before Moana did. It changes when I walk into a room and pitch a story; people have a shorthand. They understand Moana exists, so [they] kind of understand that you exist too,” Miller said. “It creates empathy in a way that didn’t exist before. And so in making a sequel, what it’s allowed us to do, we have a bigger cast, which means that we’ve got a lot more talent on this screen that wouldn’t have had that opportunity if Moana didn’t exist before. But it also means that we had Bryson Chun, who was one of the writers on the sequel who’s a Hawaiian writer. We’ve got two Samoan directors and a writer. Like that wasn’t happening 10 years ago. And it also means that there’s just more possibility. The writer I was 10 years ago doesn’t have to exist today.”
To see the direct impact that Moana had on Miller was incredibly inspiring, and exemplifies how important representation continues to be to create change. She is also creating change herself, as she shared during our interview. She co-founded the nonprofit: Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti, or PEAK Pasifika, which is aimed at supporting and uplifting Pasifika talent in Hollywood.
The film also was developed closely with the Cultural Trust, which collaborated from day one, and is influential in every step of the process. One example of the Trust’s important contribution is the way the navigation is handled in the film. Lāiana Kanoa-Wong, one of the cultural consultants, gave a demonstration to those of us in attendance on navigating in the ocean using a large map/chart that was placed on the floor, and showed us how to interpret the movement of the sun and stars to determine which way you are going. It was amazing to learn about the intricacies of navigating the sea. It’s safe to say I would get lost at sea if I was in charge of that as it’s very dangerous and complex.
Another consultant, Kalikolehua Hurley, spoke about working with Nainoa Thompson of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and his work with Hōkūleʻa. Hurley explained that Thompson’s work as a navigator has had an incredible impact on native Hawaiians and changed the way Pacific Islanders see their own culture, sparking a revitalization of culture in so many ways.
Thompson’s advice changed a key portion of the film, after he was asked how do they navigate in a storm, and what might being in a storm mean for Moana. They shared a beautiful quote from Thompson about the approach to a storm:
“You can only do so much when you go into a storm. At a certain point, you just have to let go. You have to let go of control, of what you think you know, because you cannot as a human being on a canoe fight against a storm. And it’s in those moments where you really feel lost because you can’t rely on the things that you always have been able to rely on. It’s when you feel lost, that you find the pathway to magic.”
Hurley explained this is just one example of where the Cultural Trust and the storytellers came together, but emphasized that every single frame of this film is influenced by meeting with the Trust through every step of the creative process.
Experiencing Foley, Voice Acting and Character Design
Artist Ronni Brown led our foley studio session. We were shown a montage of her work, with examples of her recording sounds for so many characters, including personal favorites, such as Bucky in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Darth Vader in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In a way, I met Darth Vader that day.
We were shown footage of her creating many sounds for Moana 2, which Brown then demonstrated in person. First, she used a stress cheese (which was wet with water) and hair gel, as well as the tip of a baby sippy cup pressed into cardboard, all to make a squishy, wet noise for a certain creature’s movement. Brown demonstrated her technique of creating the noise while footage played, and then allowed us to try. Creating suction by pressing the sippy cup lid into the floor, I immediately squeezed the stress cheese, making a mushy noise, and simultaneously lifted the lid from the floor, making a popping noise to round out the sound effect. All of these actions were required just for one motion by the creature. I repeated these steps, trying to time the noise perfectly for every movement of the creature in the footage. The amount of detail and layers that go into just a single noise, such as one footstep, or collision, was fascinating. Once we watched the final version of the scene again, I was able to pinpoint and identify every contributing layer of the sound effect played on screen. I was in aw of how many things are used to “create” one noise from different random items pieced together.
Next came our voice recording session, with the help of Moana 2’s own Hualalai Chung (the voice of Moni, a new character in Moana 2) who read his character’s lines with me. For a couple of minutes, I got to be Moana and live my voice acting dream in a Disney recording booth. Reading dialogue from the film with one of its stars immediately to my right made it even more surreal. Seeing Chung voice act in person was incredible, and he provided some guidance, tips, and reassurance that helped me be the best Moana I could be. For example, to make the movement grunts, he recommended gripping the railing in front of me, almost bracing myself, while moving my body forward and down slightly as if I was landing from a fall, simulating the situation I was trying to voice. Little things like this made a big difference, and was a glimpse into the artistry that goes into the craft.
Finally, in our character design session, we learned how to draw a Mini Maui from Tyler Pacana who is an animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. With this character, so much has to be expressed without any audio because he doesn’t speak. Pacana explained that Mini Maui is also interesting from a technical perspective because he is a hand-drawn, 2D animated texture; a tattoo on Maui, which you don’t see a lot of. Getting a step-by-step drawing lesson by one of the people who animated him in the film was so much fun.
After the rotations, I sat down for my interviews with the directors, producers and cultural consultants for Moana 2, which completed our time that day.
Moana 2 releases in theaters November 27, 2024.
Jorgie is a Senior Writer at POC Culture and a passionate pop culture fan. Jorgie loves learning about visual effects, production, film, and art, and how they all come together to make epic films like Star Wars.
