Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s children were shocked when they saw him in character for Moana.
The former WWE star – who has Simone, 24, with ex-wife Dany Garcia and Jasmine, 10, and eight-year-old Tiana with spouse Lauren Hashian – has transformed his appearance for roles in the past, but his brood found it particularly “jarring” to see him with long flowing locks as the demi-God Maui in the live-action viersion of the Disney story.
He told E! News: “The first time they saw me as Maui, they were like, ‘Oh.’
“It was jarring for them for maybe 10 minutes. Just to see me with hair, and I get it, it’s a lot of hair.
“It’s not like Smashing Machine, where it’s just a little bit [of hair]. This is long, beautiful, luscious.”
Although his family ultimately “loved” seeing him as Maui, the 54-year-old star admitted they were even more excited to visit him on set so they could see Catherine Laga’aia, who plays Moana.
He quipped: “They really just wanted to meet Catherine.”
Dwayne – who also voiced Maui in the original animated film – loves getting to meet young fans of the film.
He said: “It’s the wildest thing when I’m out, and I get a chance to meet fans, especially little, little, little ones.
“The parents are like, ‘That’s Maui!’ And they’re like, ‘That’s not Maui.'”
He explained he tells them, “Look, my tattoos!” and explains away his missing curls by saying, “I shaved my head.”
One element of making the live-action film that has been harder than voicing Maui in the 2016 animated film and its 2024 sequel has been the musical numbers.
He explained: “The timing of the dance choreography is a little bit more challenging because there’s music involved. It’s singing and making sure that the words and the lyrics are driving the moves and the steps.
“I have a partner for my number of You’re Welcome. which is Catherine, and so there’s a lot happening.”
The wrestling legend recently spoke of how he “didn’t anticipate” the difficulties he’d find in his performance because of heavy prosthetics, a bodysuit and a wig.
He told Entertainent Weekly: “The thing that became a challenge, that I had to work through very quickly, that I didn’t anticipate was the prosthetics and the hair and then the body. That is an additional 40 pounds on you.
“There’s a freedom when you perform, whether it’s as an actor or singing.
“So that was an adjustment on how to actually work my emotions through the 40 pounds of prosthetics and hair and body that I had on me.”
And Dwayne noted that it wasn’t possible for him to “lose the weight” because typically it goes from the neck, and it would’ve looked silly with the bodysuit.
He explained: “I couldn’t have a big bodysuit and then a small little skinny neck. Forty, 50 pounds is a lot to put on.
“Then it’s a lot to maintain for months… It was gruelling because of the suit and how hot it was.
“Wait till you see pictures. In between takes, there’s literally five, six people, all [with] fans, opening me up, pulling my hair back.”
There was a moment where the production team thought about recreating Maui’s iconic look with “visual effects, body and everything”, but instead they put make-up designer Joel Harlow to work.
Dwayne added: “There’s also a tactile, emotional resonance when it’s a real bodysuit. It moves and breathes with you.
“So we thought the best iteration of this was, let’s go for it, let’s challenge Joel, and he rose to the occasion.”
