Disney's Moana Gets Design Art For Dwayne Johnson's Demi-God Brawler

Does he have a People's Eyebrow?

by Brendon Connelly
Moani Agreeing to cast The "Dwayne Johnson" Rock as a tough-as-nuts Polynesian fighter who, underneath his burly exterior, hides a heart as big as an Ocean must have taken Walt Disney Animation all of two seconds. It's almost as if they invented the role for him. But they didn't. Johnson is going to play Maui, a Polynesian demi-god in the upcoming Disney toon, Moana, and this character has been part of folklore and myth for millennia. Johnson is the only announced casting so far, and his co-lead, the title character, is currently being sought through an open casting call. Back in a slightly different life at a very different website, I scooped the first story details of Moana over a year ahead of when Disney even formally announced that the film exists.
"It€™s an epic, or even mythic, adventure set around 2000 years ago," I said, adding that the film is set "across a series of islands in the South Pacific. The lead character, Moana Waialiki is the only daughter of a Chief in a long line of navigators. She€™s really a bit of nerd, but a nerd about sea voyaging, and when her family need her help, she sets off on an epic journey. Some of the other characters are demi-gods and spirits drawn from real mythology."
As I was saying, one of those demi-gods Johnson's role. We saw the back of his head in the first concept art image to be released by Disney but Film Divider have now found some face-on images. The artists clearly know that they're working on a character for Johnson - just look at the eyebrow. REMOVED BY REQUEST Moana is one of two animated feature films coming from Disney next year. In March there's Zootopia, which is a crime story set in a world without people but lots of anthropomorphic animals - a bit like Disney's own Robin Hood, but film noir-ish; then Moana will be along in November. Rumours continue that the film will have a pioneering style, perhaps close to the 2D-3D hybridisation of Feast or Paperman than the usual Frozen or Big Hero 6-style CG; I've heard specifically that the look is influenced by the paintings of Paul Gauguin.
Movie News Editor
Movie News Editor

Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.