Auli’i Cravalho recalled the first hilarious encounter with costar Dwayne Johnson.
In an exclusive interview with People magazine the actress, now 24, revealed that her first meeting with Johnson, who voices the demigod Maui, was lovely but slightly embarassing.
“I remember when I first met him he brought me flowers and he enveloped me in the largest hug,” Cravalho began.
At the time Cravalho was 14 and during the recording of her voice for the titular role, she was 15.
She recalled the embarrassing moment of the encounter saying that her mom, Puanani received a hug from Johnson adding, “And my mom was like, ‘Ooh, I’m going to go Rock climbing.’”
Cravalho went on to say with a laugh, “I was so embarrassed because who says that? Who says that? Oh my God. That’s a memory that will never get out of my head.”
The young actress and the Jumanji actor have shared a sweet bond since the recording of the first Moana.
In the upcoming sequel of Disney’s live-action adaptation of the original film, Catherine Laga’aia is now the voice behind Moana.
Sharing how the costars are keeping their bod strong, Cravalho noted, “Now we’re on text chains and email chains and Zooms together, which feels different from our first film, certainly.”
“But I think this is also a cultural thing in that I still see him as an all-knowing uncle. I still see him as someone who’s older than me to be respected.… [He is] in his own right an uncle to all of us, it feels like, in the islands,” she added.
