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Much like the character she plays, Catherine Laga’aia isn’t afraid of new waters. The 19-year-old stars as the titular role in Disney’s new live-action Moana, a role she knows comes with plenty of expectations. Despite the pressure though, Laga’aia, who is of Samoan descent, was ready to put her own spin on the beloved Disney character. “The advice I got from Auli'i [Cravalho] was just that I could make it my own, to take my own approach to her, to feel out what I wanted her to be, who I wanted her to be and just try and do my own thing,” she tells Teen Vogue.
The new film, which was released on July 10, brings Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson back to the big screen to reprise his role as Maui alongside Laga’aia’s Moana. Just a few days earlier, the film had its world premiere in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl, where Laga'aia took the stage with Johnson to perform a taualuga, a traditional Samoan ceremonial dance done in times of celebration.
Despite criticisms of whether or not we needed a live-action movie so soon after the animated release, the significance of the film to the Pasifika community means more than any debate. It’s so much more than just a Disney movie; it’s pride in seeing your rich culture on display to the world and seeing yourself being represented on screen by an all-Pacific Islander cast. Laga’aia understands that completely.
Below, Laga’aia chats with Teen Vogue on stepping into the role of Moana, Pasifika representation, and what’s next for her career.
Catherine Laga’aia: That was really nerve-wracking because I'd gotten that dance two days before. It was very, very new and very fresh and I was in the midst of the press tour and I didn't really have time to sit down and learn it, but we were getting dressed backstage in the whole outfit, tuiga [Samoan headdress] and all, and I was watching it on my phone trying to remember the dance. Having all the energy from the dancers, having Dwayne there, everything is kind of gearing up to have all this energy and all this power behind it. I got out there and I was like, "I'm just going to do it. Whatever happens, happens." As I was walking out during the beginning of the taualuga, I could see Tiana Nonosina Liufau, who's the choreographer of Moana, across the stage. She was going, "Breathe, deep breaths, walk slow." I was looking at her the whole time.
CL: I was a little nervous to step into the role of Moana, especially because you don't want to feel like you're stepping on someone's shoes. You want to feel like you can have your own claim on things and you can do whatever you can you want with a character. The advice I got from Auli'i was that I could make it my own, to take my own approach to her, to feel out what I wanted her to be, who I wanted her to be and just try and do my own thing. Also to just live in the moment because it all happens so quickly. I mean, when I was there in Atlanta, I was like, "This is never going to end. I'm never going to go back to Sydney. I'm going to die out here." But now looking back, I'm like, "That feels like it was 30 seconds."
CL: I remember hearing about it the first time and I was like... my first I was like, "Lin [Manuel-Miranda] wrote another one. When in the world was he doing that?"
I was so excited that he even knew who I was and was writing with my voice and my story in mind. That was so exciting. And it was [director] Tommy Kail's idea to have a new song. He wanted a celebration of both Moanas together. We recorded separately and I remember I recorded first and I was going to vomit at the idea that Auli'i could hear a rough cut of my voice. I was like, "Please know that woman sounds like an angel when she sings. Can you edit me last?" I was really excited to have something that was mine and that I was like, this is something that I originated as a part of the series. It was really cool getting to sing alongside her and Dwayne.
CL: I mean, for me, it's really cool because now I know no different. I haven’t been on a set where it's not surrounded by Pasifika or by Pacific Islanders. I've never been on a set where it's not normal for there to be hundreds of us around. It was a great energy. People were so excited to be there. And beyond just the family and even Maui, all of the villagers and the dancers and the fishermen, they were so excited to be there because they also grew up with this movie. This movie is also so exciting for them to be a part of.
CL: It feels insane for sure, but I was nine when the movie came out and I think getting to grow up with that movie meant that nothing like this truly ever felt impossible because I had always had that... I had Lilo and Stitch, I had Moana, I had that representation of people who looked like me and sounded like me up on screen from when I was so little. It made it all feel real and a little bit closer. I think our movie does the same thing, where now you get to see real faces and it's like, that's your cousin. Like, that could actually literally be your cousin on screen or somebody who looks like them. I think that's the exciting bit. Moana just meant that I always thought that I could [be here].
CL: They should feel excited. This movie celebrates where we come from so proudly and so loudly. People want to see where we come from. It’s really special for kids who grew up and thought that their culture was going to be the thing that held them back. It was the thing that made them different. What this movie does is it invites them to think that this movie gives them community. It's what makes them special. I am only in this movie because I am Samoan. It's the only reason that I could even audition. So, I think that's the special thing about this film is it's celebrating where we come from and how that moves us forward and how that brings us success.
CL: I don't know. Moana opened so many doors for me where I'm like, "Moana was the end goal." So, now that I'm at the end and I'm like, "Okay, now I have to find somewhere else to go because I really thought this was going to take me longer." I don't know. I think about working in the theater a lot. I love working in the theater, but I was really obsessed with John Proctor is the Villain. I know that it has a movie, so if not to just see it, that film, because I loved that play. I watched a very dodgy bootleg of it because I was not in America and it hasn't come to Australia yet. But just something like that where it celebrates a different part of who I am, being a woman, being a teenage girl. I feel like now I've done one. I don't want to do anything that I'm like, "Eh," on. I want to be passionate and excited.
