00:00I'm a theater girly at heart so I love a good show tune and I love a big Disney ending and
00:05truly I can't wait for fans to see Moana 2 because that is what we're giving.
00:09I think the bar is set high and the expectation is set high like you gotta come with it. You
00:13can't suck as my grandmother used to say. This is a call from the ancestors
00:19to sail to new skies and reconnect our people across the entire ocean.
00:30Molly? Taking on an animated musical is arguably my favorite challenge to date.
00:37I've been fortunate over the path of my career to have taken roles in many different genres. When
00:42it's an animated film it requires some real diligence. You're generally locked in a booth.
00:48You have to bring a different kind of vibe and energy and life to your voice because the voice
00:55is the only thing that's going to carry you through these scenes and through the film.
00:58Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome.
01:00I'm improvising all the time in the recording booth. Whether or not it makes it into the
01:04final cut is beyond me. I'm turning 24 this year. I was 14 when I was cast originally.
01:09I get to also add some maturity into the music and some maturity through my voice and I get a
01:14little pop star moment with some of the riffs. Is there a line that I could say as Maui in real
01:20life live action compared to Maui animated Maui? The cool thing is I can answer that because we're
01:25actually shooting live action Moana at the same time now as we just wrapped Moana 2 animated.
01:32With an animated film there's a little elevated almost like a histrionic energy to Maui. Everything
01:39has as I like to say a little bit more mustard on it. Chee-hoo! Now that's live action. Here comes
01:45animated. Chee-hoo! See the difference? What's my party trick?
01:50I mean besides belting out a show tune like that and sounding damn good I'm also incredibly limber.
01:58I can do that. That sounded worse than it was. It all depends on what kind of party it is. If it's
02:05a party for little kids I could transform into Maui. They all start to gather around. I know it's a lot,
02:11the hair, the bod. When you're staring at a demigod. I make my pecs bounce and the kids go crazy. It's
02:18awesome. It was an adult party. Well with tequila. I do this thing where I could pick up a grape.
02:27Not with my hands, not my feet, not even my mouth. Right now my publicist is like please god don't say
02:35anymore. Don't please. I don't know what else am I good at? Oh god what else am I good at? Great!
02:44I'll stay with that one for the rest of the night. We all have a legacy that we're going to leave
02:49behind. I think when we recognize that and embrace it I think it begins to change our actions a little
02:55bit. Like we think a little bit more about the stuff that we do. What Moana has done uh has provided an
03:02opportunity for me as a man of color half black half Samoan to showcase our culture and bring our
03:11culture around the world. It feels so special truly. I mean one that we get to further amplify
03:16wayfinding and navigation. That is something that Pacific Islanders have have truly dominated for
03:22generations and navigating by the stars and something that I have to say is the Polynesian
03:26Boyaging Society. The Hokule'a is a canoe that is going on their Moana Nuiakea right now. They are
03:32circumnavigating the globe using only indigenous instruments to guide their way. I also am very
03:38lucky that I uh redo these films in olelo Hawaii the Hawaiian language that is a dying language. I no
03:45longer live in Hawaii but I feel my culture in my bones and I'm really grateful for it. I have never
03:53lost sight of who I am and the fact that when all this is said and done I'm going home. You know what I
03:58mean? There's a two-parter here. The idea of mana and what mana is and then the idea of protecting
04:04that mana. So mana is ever-present. Mana in Polynesian language is our spirit. It's our power.
04:11You can feel it in here. It's the kind of stuff that can make the hair on your skin stand up.
04:17It's the kind of stuff where you go, I don't know what that was. I just experienced it but that was
04:21amazing. I heard a quote a long time ago. I'll never forget it. It is, you always want to protect the
04:27thing that allows you to do what you do and that thing is our mana and by protecting it it means
04:34putting yourself in a position to make sure that you're doing the stuff that is aligned with your
04:39values, that you have people around you who are aligned with your values too, who are not envious
04:45of you, not going to try and bring you down and protecting it. I don't know what the definition of
04:50imposter syndrome is. I know who I am. I know that I'm great. I just get scared sometimes and I
04:57think that that's totally fine. You can call it imposter syndrome. You can call it nerves. You can
05:01call it anxiousness. I made my Westin debut playing Eva Peron in Evita and I felt like a runaway bride.
05:09I wanted to get out of that theater. It was the most difficult thing I've ever done and then by the
05:14time I finished my fourth show I thought, oh if I could just have one more. You don't always have to
05:20push through it. Sometimes that gut feeling is that I'm not quite ready. I'm going to listen to my
05:27tummy and I'm going to take a deep breath. I'm going to get it on the next run. And other times,
05:31especially when I have such an amazing team behind me that I've worked with since I was 14,
05:35sometimes they tell you, no, I know you, you got this. And sometimes other people can see what you
05:42cannot. So trusting the people around you, making sure that you have a good team and then trusting
05:47yourself. It's a very fine balance. I'm a proud girl dad, three daughters, all estrogen. I'm the
05:53only testosterone in the house, me and the dog. Moana has meant so much to them. This idea of a
05:59young girl who wants more out of life told the reef, that's it. Don't look beyond it. Don't go
06:06beyond it. But yet there's, there is more and girls have a tendency to begin to shrink a little bit.
06:14And we don't want that. We want them to walk in a room. I just had this conversation last night when
06:17I was with my daughter to bed. I don't want you to be small when you go in these rooms. Be respectful,
06:23be kind, but you don't never have to be small. So I love the conceit of that with Moana.
06:29I feel really grateful to be coming back to this character who I know and love. I think that she
06:34truly embodies and personifies strength and resilience and, and courage and grabbing a demigod by
06:41the ear and saying, you had better do better. I always feel like my generation right now,
06:49you know, we've things up. So generation after us and our younger generation, they're going to have
06:54the answers to the questions that we're creating now, to the questions and challenges that we have
06:59right now in maybe a very, very small way. Moana can help them. Parents realizing who I am and then
07:07telling their poor child to just stand next to me like, take a picture with her. And they're like,
07:13you don't look like Moana. That's fair child. That's so fair. Smile anyway, smile for the camera.
Comments