Dwayne Johnson Teases His Performance as Maui in ‘Moana’ Live Action Movie: ‘I’ll Give It All I Got’

Dwayne Johnson is ready to step back into “the role of a lifetime” in the live action version of Moana.

On Wednesday, Johnson, 50, shared a behind-the-scenes video of himself with his two younger daughters — Tiana, 5 this month, and Jasmine, 7 — and wife Lauren Hashian as they filmed their recent video announcing that Walt Disney Studios will produce a live action version of the 2016 animated film.

Behind-the-scenes footage of the shoot shows the pro wrester-turned actor and his family enjoying the sun and sand on location in Oahu, Hawaii and singing lines from Moana‘s iconic song “You’re Welcome,” for the video, which Johnson revealed during Disney’s 2023 shareholder meeting Monday.

“I had the real honor and privilege of not only being here in the islands of Hawaii, where I did a lot of my growing up, but more importantly than that, I had the privilege of having my family with me,” Johnson says in his Wednesday Instagram video.

“You know, I always like to say, if it all got taken away today, then what I just experienced with [daughter Jasmine] and her sister Tia was beautiful, man,” he adds.

“Did you have fun? This was the first time you ever shot something,” Johnson asks Jasmine in the video, who replies: “I want to live here for [the rest of] my life.”

“I have a little bit of influence. I think I can make that happen,” Johnson replies. “That’s the power of the islands.”

In his Instagram caption, Johnson wrote that his family “felt the mana, the power of the ocean and spirit of our ancestors,” while on location for the shoot.

“Thank you all so much for the love, excitement & support. Singing, dance, culture. Maui is the role of a lifetime and I’ll give it all I got 🪝🌀,” the actor added.

Johnson voiced the demigod character Maui in 2016’s original Moana and will reprise the role in live action form for the newly-announced project. In Monday’s announcement video, the actor promised the return of the title character, plus “Gramma Tala, the music, the dance, Te Fiti, Pua the pig, the village” and “the beautiful, powerful ocean.”

The Moana animated film, which starred Auli’i Cravalho in the title role, grossed $643 million worldwide following its Nov. 2016 theatrical release.

Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements with a screenplay from Jared Bush, the film featured a voice cast including Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger and Alan Tudyk.

Moana features original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i, and was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.

The upcoming live-action film will be produced by Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia via their Seven Bucks Productions and Beau Flynn via Flynn Picture Co., according to a release.

Source: people.com