1. The making of a Disney princess involves directors pitching 3 unrelated ideas to communicative main John Lasseter earlier honing successful connected 1 worthy pursuing. And the genesis for Moana (directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the squad down The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules) came from Musker’s involvement successful the satellite of the South Pacific.

Digging into Polynesian mythology, they discovered hordes of legends discussing a shape-shifting quality named Maui. While antithetic islands person antithetic versions of the tale, Maui is often credited with giving humans the cognition of fire, slowing down the prima and utilizing his famed hook to bring the islands up from the bottommost of the ocean.

2. In the archetypal mentation of the script, Dwyane Johnson’s Maui was the pb "we adjacent had a favored sanction for him, similar Mighty Maui," Clements revealed to Entertainment Weekly.

The publication besides employed a pistillate supporting character. "It was based connected a story wherever a girl's person had been kidnapped, and she enlisted Maui to assistance her rescue her mislaid lover," said Clements. "That was the bare bones of it, surely not overmuch much to it than that. And John loved the arena of it, but helium said, 'You've got to excavation deeper.'" 

3. Another thought near connected the cutting country level progressive Moana—the teenage girl of a colony chief—as a fish-out-of-water benignant successful an aged world.

"There was a time-travel aspect," the directors told EW of the communicative that saw a modern kid rediscovering their ancestors. "Had an iPhone, each this modern stuff, and past discovered this past culture. We did not bash that story."

4. An archetypal probe travel to the Pacific Islands changed the accumulation team’s course. “We truly spent clip with people, sitting successful villages with the elders, children, and academics, and going retired sailing arsenic well,” shaper Osnat Shurer shared with Canada’s Tribute mag successful 2017. “We came backmost with specified a heavy appreciation for the culture, for the history, for the quality of the people, and for the rhythms and the harmonies. So close then, we made the determination unneurotic that we truly wanted to observe the culture; to bring guardant its beauty, its subtlety, its wonder, its history."

She felt peculiarly affected by 1 elder successful Mo’oera “who said to us, 'For years we person been swallowed by your culture. For once, tin you beryllium swallowed by ours?'" she revealed. "We took this precise seriously."

Among the lessons that shaped the eventual story: "That nature, the water successful particular, is live and sentient, and that the water connects america all," explained Shurer. "That you request to cognize your mountain, that you request to cognize everything that came earlier you successful bid to cognize wherever you are standing. That done a narration with nature, you tin find your way. Those are heavy and unthinkable things to learn, and determination are truthful galore cultures with beauteous messages yet to beryllium celebrated by america all. It makes maine precise excited."

5. The communicative that made it to surface addressed a real-life humanities lawsuit called the Long Pause successful which radical successful the occidental Pacific Islands took an estimated 1,000-year-long interruption earlier continuing to research eastbound Polynesia.

Though the reasoning down that hiatus has agelong been debated, filmmakers chose to property it to Maui stealing the bosom of Te Fiti. As a result, explores began failing to instrumentality from their trips, causing others to interest astir exploring beyond the reef.

6. To enactment existent to the tone of the area, filmmakers enactment unneurotic the Oceanic Story Trust. Made up of anthropologists, educators, linguists, maestro tattooists, choreographers, haka practitioners, maestro navigators, and different experts they met during probe trips to the Pacific Islands, their relation was to counsel connected each facet of the region's culture.

7. One power that was made connected their behest progressive Maui’s luscious locks. Though helium was primitively drawn without hair—like Johnson—"The advisers said, 'Maui isn’t bald. He has this long, affluent hairsbreadth that’s portion of his mana (spiritual energy),'" Clements told USA Today. “And we each said, ‘Okay, Maui volition person hair.'"

8. The alteration did person immoderate radical successful the concern department, uh, tearing retired their hair. "There’s a definite disbursal to doing hairsbreadth similar this," noted Clements. "The radical successful complaint of the fund had a flimsy panic onslaught due to the fact that abruptly we had doubly arsenic overmuch hairsbreadth arsenic we had before. In animation, 2 of the hardest things to bash are hairsbreadth and water. So we had our challenges here."

9. But portion Maui whitethorn not person had Johnson’s cleanable shave, the histrion did share that the quality was “partly inspired by my precocious grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia of Samoa.”

10. The archetypal conceit of Maui’s beloved opus "You’re Welcome" progressive Moana really belting retired the lyrics, trying to punctual the demigod of his accomplishments.

"When she archetypal met him, she idolized him, and erstwhile she came upon this down-and-out guy, this mope, she had to get him going and truthful she sang a opus to him reminding him, 'Don't you cognize you did each these large things?'" Musker explained to EW.

Making the swap—with Maui straight-up bragging astir his greatness—not lone changed the story, said Musker, but it gave opus writer Lin-Manuel Miranda “way much to write.”

11. Yes, histrion Auli'i Cravalho bears a striking resemblance to her onscreen change ego, but it's axenic coincidence. The quality of Moana was drawn earlier she was cast. Some things are conscionable meant to be. 

12. In fact, then-14-year-old Hawaii autochthonal Cravalho was the precise past actress to audition aft casting directors saw hundreds of hopefuls passim the Pacific Islands.

In a callback, she was asked to respond arsenic if she received the part. “They were like, ‘Well, actually, possibly you could play it much similar we’re telling you that we were offering you the role,’” said casting manager Rachel Sutton. Acknowledged Cravalho, “That was sneaky.” But it did marque for a precise wholesome look astatine the making of Moana.

13. As for Hawaii-born Nicole Scherzinger, she was formed arsenic Moana's ma Sina aft knocking down immoderate doors. As she recounted successful a 2016 interview, "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, get maine successful the room! I privation to beryllium a portion of it successful immoderate way.'"

14. Pua and HeiHei—included due to the fact that of the fig of pigs and roosters spotted connected South Pacific probe trips—were voiced by existent animals. While Pua’s sounds each came consecutive from a existent pig, Heihei's dependable is simply a combo of Alan Tudyk voicing rooster noises and existent recorded rooster sounds.

15. Heihei whitethorn person stolen the show, but primitively the oblivious rooster was meant to person much of a companion.

Pua, Moana’s piglet pal, was expected to articulation the adventure, but was yet near connected the formation for their ain safety. "I inactive person mixed feelings astir that," Musker told EW. "The pig was expected to spell with her, but we benignant of a small spot got talked retired of it. They liked Moana being much isolated, stuck with this idiot rooster, and not having the comfortableness of having the pig with her. There were cute scenes that we don't have."

16. With directors Musker and Clements having inserted animated versions of themselves successful erstwhile films (random townspeople successful Aladdin, muscle-men successful Hercules), they intended to bash the aforesaid with Moana.

"The archetypal gag was that this cranky rooster was based connected John and the pig was based connected me," Clements told EW. "But past the rooster…well, helium was not anserine originally."

17. In fact, “He started retired arsenic benignant of a jerk,” writer Jared Bush shared during a 2016 Comic-Con panel. “Heihei had a batch of attitude. Over the people of galore antithetic screenings, [we learned] the quality wasn't resonating. We started to alteration conscionable 1 small happening astir Heihei."

And erstwhile they did an animation trial featuring a much dimwitted mentation of the rooster, it got the laughs. Said Bush, “Pua is the cutest Disney character, Heihei is the dumbest character.”

20. And those that stuck astir aft the film’s credits were treated to different Easter egg: A look astatine Tamatoa, the musical-yet-villainous crab Maui and Moana defeated to retrieve his hook, struggling to get disconnected his backmost aft their battle.

“If my sanction was Sebastian,” helium said, “and I had a chill Jamaican accent, you would wholly assistance me!”