"Getting to grow up with Moana and having that representation is so important to young girls," Laga'aia tells Billboard of her history with the character.
When the original Moana animated film debuted in 2016, Catherine Laga‘aia was a 9-year-old girl growing up in Australia. Ten years later, the teenager is co-starring alongside Dwayne Johnson in the title role of the live-action remake of the film, hitting theaters July 10 — and she had that little girl in mind when she tackled the once-in-a-lifetime role.
“I grew up with her,” Laga‘aia told Billboard last month during a video interview alongside Johnson in Kapolei, Hawaii. “I think for a lot of young girls, when they kind of get to have their Disney princess, I feel like it’s a rite of passage. … Getting to grow up with Moana and having that representation is so important to young girls. I feel like it changes something in your brain and allows you to dream bigger and think farther. So I think getting to join in that legacy, I hope that it kind of extends that onto the next generation, and makes me be a part of something bigger than myself in a way that Moana also was.”
Moana voice actress — and live-action executive producer — Auli’i Cravalho was able to musically pass the torch to her successor on the brand-new song “Along the Way,” penned by returning Moana songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda. Laga‘aia, Cravalho and Johnson’s Maui all join forces on the buoyant song, which plays over the end credits of the new film.
