The Secret Weapon Behind Dwayne Johnson’s Moana Transformation

And while he could lasso the sun and harness the breeze, he needed a bit of help to let Maui’s hair down. 

With the faux locks in place, “the first time they saw me as Maui, they were like, ‘Oh,'” Johnson acknowledged of daughters Simone, 24, (with ex Dany Garcia) Jasmine, 10 and Tiana, 8 (with wife Lauren Hashian). “It was jarring for them for maybe 10 minutes. Just to see me with hair, and I get it, it’s a lot of hair.”

But for Johnson dealing with the extra strands and muscles wasn’t the hairiest part of the filming experience. Instead, it was mastering the choreography for each musical number.

“These are iconic songs that are beloved, and this is our live-action version, so you got to step up to the plate,” he explained to E!. “And you feel the pressure. You gotta bring the A-plus-plus game to this thing.”

Who has two thumbs and an excellent teammate in 19-year-old Australian actress Laga’aia? “You gotta have a great partner,” Johnson noted. “That’s what I had.”

What can he say except, well, you know. And as Moana‘s live-action offering hits theaters July 10, we dove deep to pull up these secrets behind the OG film.