The latest trailer for Disney’s live-action Moana arrived yesterday, bringing our best look yet at Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui. To no one’s surprise, the character is much the way he appears in the animated films: muscular, tattooed, and with long flowing hair. But getting that transformation just right was a surprisingly involved process.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the actor talked about what it took to get into character. First, even though Johnson is a former professional wrestler known for his beefy physique, being as big as he needed to be to play Maui required prosthetic assistance. That came in the form of a 40-pound bodysuit, which Johnson described as “grueling” to wear because of “how hot it was.”
“There was an idea that maybe we were gonna do this whole thing with visual effects, body and everything,” Johnson told EW. “But then 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 [Harlow, Moana‘s make-up designer], and he rose to the occasion.”
But it’s not just the muscles that had to be carefully tailored. It was also Maui’s signature locks. For this, a special wig was required.
“As a wayfinder, you can just see him on the back of the canoe with the wind blowing,” Moana director Thomas Kail told EW. “We knew that it had to be something that could have real lift to it. Because you’re doing this on the water, ‘what does it look like wet?’ is a real conversation when you’re making Moana. That one weighs seven pounds more with all the water in it for all those hours a day.”
Johnson told the outlet it took about two and a half hours to become Maui-ready for filming. “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 … 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.”
That wig is certainly memorable, is it not? We’ll see more of it in action when Moana hits theaters July 10.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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#LiveAction #Moana #Thought #Maui #Wig



![A24 Wants You to Be Nice About Its Google AI Deal
Earlier this week, we learned A24 entered a research partnership with Google’s DeepMind unit. The reactions were… not happy, to say the least. And like many who’ve let generative AI into their hearts, the film studio’s now left playing defense for its widely panned decision. In a statement to Wired, A24’s communications rep Sophia Shin stressed the “research” part of its Google partnership. “We’re working side-by-side with DeepMind’s researchers to learn, iterate, and build, having an active hand in shaping new tools and workflows,” she explained. “This is about learning and helping pain points in workflows behind the scenes. […] It exists because we want to dictate what tools get built for artists, so they have a voice in shaping them rather than having tools handed to them. While acknowledging A24 doesn’t love “any of the current AI outputs onscreen in Hollywood,” Shin considers this partnership a bit of a necessary evil. “We’d rather have a seat at the table than on the sidelines,” she stated. The promise of further artist agency and “a seat at the table” are common shields from genAI users, but it doesn’t seem to be working here. Fans consider this move ironic and a betrayal, given Backrooms director Kane Parsons recently called the tech “cultural and economic rot” and wished he could just snap it out of existence.
Before that, the studio didn’t seem to have much interest in generative AI. In 2024, it came under fire for using the tech to create posters for Civil War, while months later, its horror film Heretic had a disclaimer promising it wasn’t made with the technology. But Hollywood’s become gradually more accepting of generative AI and its supposed potential for the filmmaking process. In that sense, maybe it was inevitable for A24 to fall in line. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #A24 #Nice #Google #DealA24,generative ai,Google DeepMind A24 Wants You to Be Nice About Its Google AI Deal
Earlier this week, we learned A24 entered a research partnership with Google’s DeepMind unit. The reactions were… not happy, to say the least. And like many who’ve let generative AI into their hearts, the film studio’s now left playing defense for its widely panned decision. In a statement to Wired, A24’s communications rep Sophia Shin stressed the “research” part of its Google partnership. “We’re working side-by-side with DeepMind’s researchers to learn, iterate, and build, having an active hand in shaping new tools and workflows,” she explained. “This is about learning and helping pain points in workflows behind the scenes. […] It exists because we want to dictate what tools get built for artists, so they have a voice in shaping them rather than having tools handed to them. While acknowledging A24 doesn’t love “any of the current AI outputs onscreen in Hollywood,” Shin considers this partnership a bit of a necessary evil. “We’d rather have a seat at the table than on the sidelines,” she stated. The promise of further artist agency and “a seat at the table” are common shields from genAI users, but it doesn’t seem to be working here. Fans consider this move ironic and a betrayal, given Backrooms director Kane Parsons recently called the tech “cultural and economic rot” and wished he could just snap it out of existence.
Before that, the studio didn’t seem to have much interest in generative AI. In 2024, it came under fire for using the tech to create posters for Civil War, while months later, its horror film Heretic had a disclaimer promising it wasn’t made with the technology. But Hollywood’s become gradually more accepting of generative AI and its supposed potential for the filmmaking process. In that sense, maybe it was inevitable for A24 to fall in line. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #A24 #Nice #Google #DealA24,generative ai,Google DeepMind](https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2026/03/Backrooms-1280x853.jpg)
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