"Moana" is opening in U.S. theaters on Thanksgiving week this Wednesday, Nov. 23. Dwayne Johnson, who voiced the lead character Maui, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who worked on the music, both said that they got emotional while doing "Moana."
As with most Disney movies, this latest film tugs the heart string as it touches on family and ancestry. There were elements to "Moana" that were relatable to them in real life.
"I have never cried consistently... through a movie more than I have with this movie," Dwayne Johnson told ABC News. The actor also said that there were shades to his character that reminded him of his grandfather, a Samoan high chief with tattoos much like Maui.
In another interview, Dwayne Johnson also reflected on the similarities of the grandmother in "Moana" to his own kin. "The grandmother in the movie, Gramma Tala, is like my grandmother and like so many of our grandmothers," the actor said, according to Collider. He raves that because of these reminders of his grandparents, the movie moved him so much to tears.
Thanksgiving box office: Disney's #Moana to stuff Brad Pitt's #Allied, #BadSanta2 https://t.co/OFLLfpnZpS pic.twitter.com/SqP9QfMMdH
— Variety (@Variety) November 21, 2016
For Lin-Manuel Miranda, working on "Moana" has also been about family, but his emotional attachment is slightly different from Dwayne Johnson. Apparently, Disney has this tradition of listing down the names of the cast and crew's children who were born during the course of the filming and he saw his son's name in it.
"That was a really crazy, full circle moment for me," Lin-Manuel Miranda also told Collider. He worked on "Moana's" music for "two years and seven and a half months," and his son, Sebastian, with wife Vanessa Nadal, is already 2-years-old.
Meanwhile, families trooping to the movie house this week to watch "Moana" should stay after the credits role in the end. According to Business Insider, there is a bonus scene that is worth a watch and different versions of the songs in the movie.
Catch "Moana" in theaters on Wednesday, Nov. 23. Check out the teaser to the movie in the video below.
