“Moana 2” – Interview with Christina Chen and Hualālai Chung

Getting There Together
Chatting about Disney’s Moana 2 with producer Christina Chen and actor Hualālai Chung

Moana 2 began life as a proposed animated television series for Disney+. It didn’t take long for the powers that be at Walt Disney Animation Studios to realize that the big screen was where Polynesian heroine Moana (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho) and the shape-shifting demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) were most at home, and plans quickly shifted to craft the pair a story that would befit a second cinematic adventure.

With the sequel’s Thanksgiving holiday release on the horizon, I sat down with Moana 2 producer Christina Chen and actor Hualālai Chung on the Space Needle’s observation deck to chat about the film. The pair’s joy at having the opportunity to be involved with the project was immediately palpable, but we also touched on several hot-button topics. Here are some of the edited highlights from our brief conversation.

Sara Michelle Fetters: Talk about a little about how this sequel came to be.

Christina Chen: There was so much love for the first animated film. We know Moana so well. We love the characters. We love the music. It really was begging for this expansion to the story. Everyone was wondering, where is Moana going to be a couple of years from [the events of the previous film]?

So there really was this groundswell of people at the studio and from audiences that wanted to see a sequel happen. We would do these screenings every few months, and everyone always agreed we needed to continue Moana’s story, and it needed to be a big-screen experience. It’s just so beautiful. So expansive. Everyone is always just so blown away when we screen the first film. In that way, a sequel just happened organically. It had to be made.

SMF: I watched the original again just the other day, and I was struck once more by how celebratory it is of diversity, and not just in the natural world but in the cultural human world as well. It’s such cultural celebration. How would you say Moana 2 picks up on some of those themes?

CC: This film is ultimately about identity and … connection. It shows how we as people continue to evolve as individuals and as a society. This time Moana is a leader. She has a new crew, and so the story [asks], as we get older … and we become a leader, what does that mean? In the first film, she went off on her own. This time, she has the responsibility of leading her crew, knowing she is going on this new adventure for her people and with her people.

SMF: Hualālai, when you auditioned for Moana 2, what was it like to step into the shoes of this character, Moni, and knowing you’d be a part of continuing Moana’s story?

Hualālai Chung: I’ll be honest. When I sat down to audition, I had no idea this was the film I was auditioning for. Disney does this amazing job of keeping things under wraps, so I’d received all the materials unlisted: no character names, no studio names, nothing. But I have this mentality to not give up on any opportunity. It was a role, and I knew I wanted it, so I wanted to give the best audition possible, so I could force whichever studio was doing the casting to make a tough decision.

Three or four weeks later, I get this phone call from the casting director at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and I absolutely lost my mind. I was such a Disney kid when I was young. We went to the parks every summer whenever possible.

But, that aside, I have an even deeper love of my culture, and Moana meant so much to me as a kid. I remember walking around the park and thinking, if there ever was an opportunity to pair my love of Disney with my love of my culture, that would be a dream come true.

SMF: So, elaborate on that if you could. You were a kid when Moana came out. Now, here you are, starring in the sequel. What does that feel like?

HC: Fun fact: Auli’i actually graduated from the same high school. How crazy is that? It is so cool when the first film came out that not only did Disney create a film that celebrates Polynesian culture, Pacific Islander culture, but that it also starred someone from our hometown.

To be able to join her on this adventure? It’s truly an honor. I try to come up with other words to describe what I’m feeling, but there just aren’t any. It’s such an honor, such a blessing. Part of me still can’t believe it happened.

SMF: Without getting into spoilers, can you tell people how Moni fits into Moana and Maui’s latest adventure?

HC: I like to say Moni is everyone’s best friend. He’s whimsical. He’s giddy. He is obsessed with Maui, so much so it can get a little uncomfortable sometimes. [laughs] But Moni is also the dreaming historian of Moana’s village. He fits into the crew by not only being an oarsman but by also being able to recite many of the ancient tales and legends that will help Moana and Maui navigate through all the various trails and hardships they’re going to face along the way to their destination.

SMF:  Christina, having worked on the first Moana and now stepping up to the plate as one of film’s producers for the sequel, what did it feel like to embark on this adventure, knowing you had such a pivotal role to play?

CC: Like [it was for] Hualālai, working on Moana 2 was a dream come true. I was lucky enough to work on the first film, and that’s where I became friends with my fellow producer Yvett Merino. She was a production manager on Moana and I was in production finance, so it was such a joy and an honor to produce this sequel alongside her.

Two of our three directors, David G. Derrick Jr. and Jason Hand, also worked on the first film, so Moana 2 was like this big family reunion. I think, as a group, we’re just grateful we got the opportunity to work on this sequel each and every day. I’ll say it again: it’s a dream come true.

SMF: When Auli’I and Dwayne walked back into the recording studio to resurrect Moana and Maui for the first time, what was that like?

CC: Magic. It was magic. We were all so excited. [With] the first words they uttered as their characters, Auli’i and Dwayne immediately snapped back into being Moana and Maui again. They have such a deep love of these characters and of their culture, it was like they’d never stopped being Maona and Maui. The are Maona and Maui. It was incredible to see… them in the booth, working out their lines, and bringing back that comedy and that emotion. It was amazing. Tears may have been shed. [laughs]

SMF: We’re in this period right now where there all these heightened emotions regarding representation and diversity, especially as it pertains to the arts, cinema in particular. There is also such great enthusiasm for this sequel. How important is it for a film like Moana 2 to come out right now and in this environment?

CC: This whole film is about connection. It’s such a universal thing that I think — I hope — everyone can relate to. As we grow older, we begin to realize how much we need one another, that everything is connected. This film is very emblematic of the idea that going on any type of adventure together is determinative of just how far we will ultimately go. If we don’t go on the journey together, we won’t get very far. We’ll get stranded.

I think, for me, that’s why this is such an important story to tell. It’s valuable at any point in our lives to be reminded about that. I think that’s especially true right now.

SMF: Hualālai, in that same vein, in light of how much the first Moana meant to you as a youngster, what do you hope viewers, especially younger ones, take away from watching Moana 2?

HC: I think the first and second film represent the importance of community so well. I hope this is something everyone can relate to. I think, my personal experience in all of this and in making this film also exemplifies that you can do anything you set your mind to, and that’s also a really big theme that Moana herself typifies. Don’t let the confines of life and society keep you from being who you are meant to be. Don’t give up. Go for it.

– Interview reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle