“I was like, ‘Dude, I know how this sounds. It sounds like total nepotism.'” Johnson says of casting talk with “Moana” director
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson greets USA TODAY during ‘Moana’ premiere
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playfully greets USA TODAY’s Bryan Alexander during the Los Angeles premiere for Disney’s live-action “Moana.”
LOS ANGELES — The only way Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson gets upstaged at a movie premiere is when his daughters do the upstaging.
That happened at the Los Angeles “Moana” world premiere on Tuesday, July 7, when Johnson’s adorable daughters — Jasmine, 10, and Tiana, 8, — joined their famous dad (aka demigod Maui) on the stage of the famed Hollywood Bowl for a traditional Polynesian dance.
The girls beamed dancing with the smiling Johnson, who honored his co-star Catherine Laga’aia (the live-action Moana) in the dance.
“Oh, it was beautiful,” Johnson told USA TODAY moments later, still wearing his ceremonial apparel. “That’s why I’m dressed like this. I just came right from the stage.”
Johnson’s daughters, and his mother, Ata Johnson, who is of Samoan ethnicity, all appear in the live-action version of “Moana” (opening in theaters July 10). Producer and star Johnson makes no bones about making those family appearances happen.
“Yeah, my daughters and my mom are in the film,” says Johnson. “I went to Tommy Kail, our director, and I was like, ‘Dude, I know how this sounds. It sounds like total nepotism.'”
Still, Johnson flexed for it to happen.
“I said, ‘Life lives and our elderly move on,” says Johnson. “Can we have a moment where there’s no dialogue, but where I just see my daughters and my mom in that moment? And that’s what you see?'”
His request was granted. As the “Moana” song goes, he’s a demigod, after all.
New ‘Moana’ gets new ‘You’re Welcome’
The 2016 animated “Moana” smash hit featured cocky demigod Maui singing “You’re Welcome” to the heroine Moana (voiced by Auliʻi Cravalho). The song, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, was Johnson’s first big singing showcase. At the time, the movie superstar confessed to nervously practicing the song alone in his pickup truck, in his garage, to get the complicated rap right. It’s now an American classic.
Johnson admits there is no more fear singing. So, you’re welcome.
“Now, I’m not nervous at all,” he says, adding that he is compelled to sing the song to the young “Moana” fans that he meets. “The kids are always like, ‘He’s not Maui!’ And I start singing, ‘You’re Welcome,’ and they’re like, ‘It is Maui. Sing more!’ And it’s like, here we go.”
“Fortunately,” Johnson adds. “I love singing that song.”