When I last chatted with Auliʻi Cravalho two years ago, it was to talk about her most famous character, Moana. Hopping on a Zoom call with her late last month, we were once again talking about the wayfinder — but this time, Cravalho is not the one playing her.
In Disney’s live-action “Moana,” which hits theaters on Friday, Dwayne Johnson reprises his voice role as the live-action Maui, but Catherine Lagaʻaia stars as the not-technically-a-princess adventurer instead of Cravalho. And while Cravalho is thrilled to pass the torch and wasn’t shocked to see “Moana” get the live-action treatment, she did have a flash of sadness when Disney first called her to let her know the movie was happening.
“I’ll be honest that the first call brought me to tears,” the 25-year-old said. “I went, ‘Oh, I thought I would have more time with this character as my own.’”
No one could fault fans for thinking and hoping she would. Cravalho even joked during our last conversation that she’d be playing teenaged characters well into her 30s, thanks to her very young face. But there was no talk of her ever returning for this version of the story and character.
The good news is, that flash of sadness quickly dissipated, and Cravalho wasn’t boxed out of this “Moana.” In fact, she serves as an executive producer on the live-action film and sings a song over the end credits. And as she stepped into producer shoes, Cravalho got to be involved in far more than she normally would as just an actress.
“The feelings that I had in the very beginning have honestly washed away in a way that I wasn’t quite expecting, because of … the many hands that were working on it, and how far it exceeded even my expectations,” the actress said.
Among those hands were expert cultural consultants, Wētā Workshop (best known for its Oscar-winning effects work on the “Lord of the Rings” films) and more. She was on a lot of email chains.
The actress also saw an opening to hold the metaphorical door open behind her. Not long after this live-action “Moana” was revealed to the public, Cravalho confirmed she wouldn’t be playing the role and explained how important it is to her to see more accurate representation onscreen and behind the scenes — in this case, AAPI representation — even if she has to create the space herself.
It’s a talk she’s talked and a walked she’s walked since well before “Moana,” telling TheWrap back in 2022 how important it was for Hulu’s queer rom-com “Crush,” in which she starred as one half of the core love story, to have queer writers.
My question was, does it feel like people are really hearing her on this one? After all, fans love her as Moana, and when TheWrap posted the clip of Cravalho’s explanation, the comment section was flooded with people fixated on her very non-Disney, “Mean Girls” press look — which included a buzzed head, bright makeup, and more punky clothing, reminiscent of her character Janis — rather than her words.
“You know, I don’t really read those comments, but it’s a great point,” she said. “And the fans are so important to us. I mean, we would be nothing without the people who watch these films and love them just as much as we do.”
Passing the torch
While Cravalho appreciates that love and devotion, she stood just as firm in her own support of Lagaʻaia.
“I was not worried about playing this character, because I practice what I preach, in that someone else’s joy is not the cause of my sadness,” she continued. “And I was lonely. It’s a little lonely being Pacific Islander out here, you know? There aren’t very many actresses that I get to see who are within my kind of age range, doing the thing. Like this thing is hard, and it’s even harder when you’re coming from an island in the middle of the sea!”
So the actress was stoked to see the audition tapes of the girls vying to become the next Moana. When Cravalho saw Catherine Lagaʻaia’s tape, she immediately noted that Lagaʻaia “embodies” the character.
“She’s great, and her spirit is strong, and she feels like a sister to me, and I am happy for her,” Cravalho said. “Like, I am happy for her. So, whether people believe me or not actually has nothing to do with me, but I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again and again, and maybe repetition will help.”
Cravalho also distinctly remembers the pressure she felt in taking on the character of Moana originally (the movie was the start of a real push by Disney to have more representation in their princesses), which is why she had no advice for Lagaʻaia. Cravalho simply sent her a heartfelt email and did everything she could to make sure the now 19-year-old didn’t feel burdened by taking on a character that’s quickly become a legacy character.
“So often I felt like I had to prove myself in different spaces, that I was Hawaiian or I was Pacific Islander enough, and the one thing I didn’t want to do is put that on her, my goodness,” Cravalho said. “If I could take any of that — it’s probably why I was so vocal from the very beginning.”
“Let me take whatever I can, because she is doing the work, and she’s also spreading the message of the Pacific. And like, as young people who have inherited a world on fire, to be able to make something that is such goodness, that makes our parents and our grandparents proud, it’s such a shining light. I’m so, so proud of her.”
Behind the camera
Cravalho felt very protective over the project as a whole. It’s a feeling that’s been with her since she was cast as Moana as a young teen, long before a live-action adaptation was even on the radar.
“Thinking back when I was 14, when I first heard about Moana the animated film being made, I was already protective of my culture, you know?” she recalled. “I went, ‘Oh boy, oh boy, what will they put on screen? How will they animate this? What is she going to look like? How do you represent the entirety of the Pacific, and make something that will stand the test of time?’”
“All of these thoughts were going around in my head, and I felt similarly when I first got that call about live action. But the wonderful thing is, everyone who had their hands in this film was excited, and made this with love and care, and we have a whole wonderful team of cultural consultants, from linguists, to anthropologists, to cultural practitioners, and experts in song and dance from different regions of the Pacific.”
Once that was taken care of, Cravalho just had to get past her own fear of not knowing things in her new role. She desperately wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to executive produce, as she’s got big dreams for projects down the road that will hopefully entail writing and directing.
That meant asking a lot of questions, sometimes at the wrong time (she was literally asking Lin-Manuel Miranda about the end credits song during pre-production).
“Because this is such a huuuuuuuge film, I refused to then do press at the very end of this process and pretend [that I produced without doing anything] — I’m a great actor, but I am in fact a terrible liar!” Cravalho admitted. “I am really bad. Like I would not come across the same way. I feel like, when I lie, other people know. And so I wanted to be in it as much as I could.”
Being in New York for most of production made that harder — Cravalho was starring on Broadway as Sally Bowles in “Cabaret” — but she made sure to be on the “We Know the Way” group chat between producers, and keep up on what was going on.
“Practice feeling dumb was what I took away from producing,” she explained. “Because I want to get good at things, but first I have to be bad at them, and that kills me a little bit.”
So, what comes next? Well, if Dwayne Johnson’s recent comments (which came after this interview with Auliʻi) are true, it might be “Moana 3.” She’s currently learning guitar and becoming a bit of a woodworker. But she’s also got her eyes on more specific projects, including leading DC’s “My Adventures With Green Lantern” animated series.
“I’ve really been enjoying comedies lately. I know that we talked during ‘Crush,’ but I’ve never really been a rom-com girly,” she said. “So I’ve been watching more rom-coms, and kind of figuring out the structure of them.”
“I’m also writing. I’ve been wonderfully paired with a few writers to learn their voice, to learn my own voice, and I would love to be in a comedy, and have that lightness on set. I’ve worked on a couple of dramas now, and the lighting, like the coloring, is so moody. Put me in something bright and colorful, you know?”
“Moana” hits theaters everywhere Friday, July 10.
