So the production turned to That sounds simple until someone has to wear it under hot lights for hours: a 40-pound bodysuit.
The bodysuit protected the character’s look
Johnson said the team did consider putting him on set as he looked after The Smashing Machine, but Maui’s outline still had to look right to viewers who knew the animated character by heart.
“We were considering me just stepping on set how I looked in The Smashing Machine, but the body was just intensely different,” Johnson told E! News. “We are the keepers of integrity, but also the fans are keepers of integrity, and if I stepped on set looking like how I looked, they would have had a complete organ rejection.”
A bit dramatic, yes. Also probably accurate. Audiences can forgive many things, but an off-model Disney icon tends to become everyone’s problem by lunch.
The suit was created by Oscar-winning makeup department head Joel Harlow. Johnson joked that it was “hot as s--t,” which is not exactly surprising, given that it added 40 pounds to an already physically demanding performance.
The suit helped creatively, too. Johnson said it gave the visual effects team a better surface for Maui’s Polynesian tattoos
“It also worked out great because of visual effects, because the tattoos are alive,” he said, “and a better treat for audiences to see it on the suit.”
His daughters had to adjust to Maui’s hair
The body was only part of the transformation. Maui’s long hair also got a reaction at home.
Johnson said the first time his daughters saw him in the full look, the reaction was brief but unmistakable.
“The first time they saw me as Maui, they were like, ‘Oh,’” he said.
He was talking about his daughters Simone, 24, whom he shares with ex-wife Dany Garcia, and Jasmine, 10, and Tiana, 8, whom he shares with his wife Lauren Hashian.
“It was jarring for them for maybe 10 minutes,” Johnson said. “Just to see me with hair, and I get it, it’s a lot of hair.”
For a performer so closely associated with his shaved head, that may have been the most surprising special effect in the house.
The musical numbers brought their own pressure
Johnson said the physical transformation was not the hardest part of filming. The bigger challenge was performing the musical numbers in a live-action version of a film whose songs are already deeply familiar to families.
“These are iconic songs that are beloved, and this is our live-action version, so you got to step up to the plate,” he told E! News. “And you feel the pressure. You gotta bring the A-plus-plus game to this thing.”
He also credited his co-star Catherine Laga'aia, the 19-year-old Australian actress playing Moana in the live-action film. Auli'i Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the original animated movie, remains involved as an executive producer.
“You gotta have a great partner,” Johnson said. “That’s what I had.”
The live-action Moana arrives in theaters July 10, bringing Johnson back to one of his most recognizable roles, this time with more hair, more heat, and apparently much more foam than the audience is meant to notice.
