It’s easy to forget that back in 2016, when the first Moana film was released, Hollywood did not afford many opportunities for Hawaiian and Pacific Islander creatives. The voice of Moana, Auli’i Cravalho, was only 16 years old when she made her debut in the film. Not only was Cravalho a generally unknown talent at the time of the first Moana, but there was also a dearth of Pacific Islander talent who had the chance to work on the film. Eight years later, as Moana 2 is set to release on November 27, 2024, the industry still has a long way to go in terms of giving Pacific Islanders the opportunities that they deserve, but the sequel is proof that progress is being made.
The mere fact that Moana is getting a feature film sequel is itself a big win. Three years ago, Disney announced this project as a long form limited series, not a film. While it’s great to have any additional stories set in this world, a limited series would not have been given the resources or exposure that a feature length feature film would. Thankfully, Disney changed course, and earlier this year announced that the project was being reworked into a full-fledged film.
A few weeks ago, our Senior Writer Jorgie Rodriguez, had the opportunity to visit Walt Disney Animation Studios to preview some early footage from Moana 2, as well as speak with several of the key filmmakers. Rodriguez sat down with writer and director Dana Ledoux Miller, director David G. Derrick and director Jason Hand to discuss the crafting of the film. Jorgie also spoke with the film’s cultural consultants, Kalikolehua Hurley, Sr. Manager, Cultural – Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Lāina Kanoa-Wong, a consultant from the Oceanic Cultural Trust, about all the efforts that went into ensuring that Pacific Islander cultures were authentically represented in the film. Finally, Jorgie chatted with producers Yvett Merino and Christina Chen, who talked about the various aspects that went into making this film a reality.
David G. Derrick, who was one of the few Pacific Islanders who worked on the first Moana film as a story artist, is now one of the directors for the sequel. Derrick talked about how uniquely important both films are to him.
“When I first worked on the first Moana, I went to my ancestor’s gravestone…and I made a rubbing of that. And I put that up on my desk every day to remind me why this was different than any other movie I had ever worked on,” Derrick said.
Writer and director Dana Ledoux Miller shared Derrick’s personal connection to the project, while at the same time revealing her struggles with imposter syndrome. Miller, who is mixed race with Samoan heritage, faced the same internal questions that many mixed race or members of diasporic groups face about their identity; she wasn’t sure she was “Samoan enough” to tell this story.
“This has been a really personal journey for me. As someone of mixed heritage – Samoan and a lot of European (laughing). When I got this job and stepped into this role as writer and director of Moana 2, I felt a lot of insecurity about that. Will I be Samoan enough to tell this story? And I think that’s something a lot of people feel,” Miller said. “But we had this incredible moment where we had Lāina Kanoa-Wong come into the studio and have a blessing. He did a traditional Hawaiian blessing. It was in that moment that he asked us all to close our eyes and invite our ancestors into the room. I distinctly remember feeling my grandmother’s presence in that moment and it felt like her telling me that I was enough. And ever since then, I really just embraced that and whooped with confidence into telling this story. And I cannot wait to share this with my kids, my niece, my cousins, because it’s become a part of who I am.”
For both Derrick and Miller, Moana 2 serves as another critical step in Pacific Islander representation in Hollywood that continues to need more resources and support. Both credited the first Moana film for helping to change the narrative of Pacific Islander stories and create more opportunities for members of their community.
“When we made the first Moana, I think I was one of the very few people who had any Pasifika heritage on the first film. And I’m very proud now with Moana 2 to be working alongside you Dana, but also across other departments we have people with Pasifika heritage,” Derrick said. “It’s been heartwarming to see them there. So we have seen change and the specificity and love that they all bring to the movie is something that we couldn’t have gotten any other way.”
Miller agreed that progress is happening, albeit slowly, and shared that in the eight years since the first Moana film, she and other members of the Pacific Islander community in Hollywood have sought to create a network of supporting one another and lifting up the next generation of creatives.
“I wasn’t seeing the change happen right away in Hollywood. So I co-founded a non-profit called PEAK, Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti, dedicated to creating opportunities for Pacific Islander creatives, so they can get the tools and the knowledge and the opportunity to start getting into writers rooms,” Miller said. “But I will say, it was Moana that helped inspire me to do that. People started talking about Pacific Islanders in new ways, and I found a lot of other creatives who were also inspired by Moana and wanted the opportunity to tell stories. I kept looking for someone to lead the way and start a community for us in Hollywood. And I was waiting and waiting. And I met someone else who felt the same way, and we looked at each other and go, ‘I guess we have to be the ones to start this,’ and it’s been a really phenomenal experience. And I hope that myself being in this position, and Dave [Derrick] being in this position will inspire them, and also prove to other Hollywood creatives that we are more than capable of telling our own stories, and telling stories beyond things that are specific to Pacific Islanders.”
An important part of any film that centers a specific culture are the consultants and experts who must be a part of the creative process and storytelling. Disney has made it a point to create a cultural trust of experts for many of its past films, including Raya and the Last Dragon, Encanto and of course, the first Moana. For the sequel, the studio brought in both internal and external consultants, including members of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, a group dedicated to reviving wayfinding, which is a major element of Moana 2.
Lāina Kanoa-Wong, who is a member of the Oceanic Cultural Trust, discussed the efforts that the filmmakers took to ensure authenticity for this film, especially when it comes to Moana’s wayfinding.
“With the film, they really worked hard to try to get things as accurate as possible. How the stars are placed in the imagery when she’s on the canoe, how she uses the latitude and longitude, all of these elements, how she works with her sails, they consulted with the team on how the canoe should look. So all of those elements are there. I think for us as practitioners and people who are trying to revive that part of our culture, it’s so great to see a film that showcases that and some of the best of it and the lessons learned and the challenges that Moana will have to learn as a wayfinder,” Kanoa-Wong said.
As one might expect, working on a project like Moana 2 means a lot to Kanoa-Wong. But his focus is not only on his own experience, but the experience of his family, community and future generations to come.
“I’m a father of four. I even have younger siblings as well as my own four children. When you think about the work that we get to do, it’s very indigenous, it’s a very native, to think not only about now, but to try our best to think about the generations ahead and will the work that we do be something that we can be proud of for generations to come. I feel like that for myself, that being part of a project like this is something we can be proud of for generations,” Kanoa-Wong said.
Kalikolehua Hurley, who has served as Senior Manager of Disney’s internal Cultural Trust team since 2021, experienced first-hand the importance of a film like Moana to future generations when she watched the film with her niece.
“I’ll never forget coming home to visit, and we were watching Moana together, during the song ‘We Know the Way,’ when one of our characters holds his arm up to measure the stars, she walked to the TV and held up her arm as well. I have a picture of it. It stayed with me and I actually printed a picture of it and it’s on my computer. Because it means a lot. She’s Hawaiian, we’re Hawaiian. It means a lot,” Hurley said.
Kanoa-Wong added that having a Pacific Islander story about a strong young woman, told by one of the biggest studios in the world, gives Moana a special weight.
“Moana’s the first film at this global scale that showcased this beautiful art of wayfinding. And for our people to see a young female leader and heroine at that way as a wayfinder, it’s something that I think we’re so proud to see that,” Kanoa-Wong said.
Producers Yvett Merino and Christina Chen, who have worked on a variety of films for Disney, know well how important it is to tell authentic stories through the studio. Merino worked on films like Big Hero 6, Raya and the Last Dragon and Encanto, while Chen was involved with Encanto as well as the recent African animated series Iwájú. Chen noted the positive steps behind the camera that we have seen following the first Moana film.
“I think it’s so exciting to see the power of Moana one and the impact on the community. When you even look at our director landscape. We have Jason Hand, but we also have Dave Derrick and Dana Ledoux Miller, and both Dave and Dana are Samoan,” Chen said. “So to be able to see that in the leadership on this film has been really, really powerful to watch, and I think that’s what Moana, the first film, really did. It set a bar in terms of cultural representation, not only the storytelling, but behind the camera. And so we’ve been able to really see that manifest over the last eight years.”
Merino shared the experience of working with the various members of the cultural trust, and how inspiring it was to see their passion.
“Working with the Oceanic Cultural Trust inspired us every time we interacted with them or were able to meet with them…we were working with Nainoa Thompson from the Polynesian Voyaging Society and it’s always inspiring to talk to him because he is really part of the team that brought wayfinding back into the modern day and really revived it again. When he kind of said, ‘Getting lost is when you truly find the magic,’ [it] was something we really held onto,” Merino said.
Moana 2 premieres November 27, 2024 in theaters.
Ron is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POC Culture. He is a big believer in the power and impact of pop culture and the importance of representation in media.
