As published on CLAUDIA

Dwayne Johnson arrived in Brazil to promote the live-action adaptation of Moana, but during the press conference, it was when he spoke about his daughters that Maui stopped being merely a Disney demigod and became something far more personal.

For Johnson, who returns to the role nearly a decade after the original animated film, Moana is not simply an adventure about the ocean, courage, and Polynesian culture. It is also a story about family, loss, ancestry, and the delicate moment when parents must accept that their children may be ready to navigate the world on their own.

The father of three daughters, Johnson revealed that, over the years, he has had to rethink his own protective instincts. In the film, Moana’s father fears allowing his daughter to venture beyond the reef. In real life, Johnson recognizes that same impulse in himself. “I’m a protective father,” he said. “But I’ve learned that my daughters have to make their own decisions. And if they fail, that’s okay. I’ll be there to help them get back up.”

It’s a simple statement, but perhaps it touches on one of the greatest anxieties of parenthood: how do you protect without preventing? How do you guide without controlling? How do you love without allowing that love to become fear?

In Moana, that tension is embodied in the heroine’s desire to travel beyond the safety of her island. For Johnson, this is precisely why the story remains important for new generations. The message, he believes, is not simply about winning, but about trying. The worst thing that can happen is that it doesn’t work out. But maybe it does. Or maybe it leads you to another even better path.”

There is something deeply universal in that perspective, even though it comes from a man best known for his physical strength. Throughout the conversation, Johnson spoke far less about muscles than about vulnerability.

He explained that Maui, despite being a demigod capable of lassoing the sun and lifting islands from the ocean, only discovers his true strength when he allows himself to talk about his own pain. For Johnson, this is an especially important lesson for men: vulnerability does not diminish strength.

The actor also revealed that his youngest daughter spent years refusing to believe that he was actually the voice of Maui in the animated film. During the pandemic, they watched Moana repeatedly, and he would tell them, “That’s Daddy.” They would simply answer: “No, it’s not.”

Now, seeing him physically embody the character in live action, they finally believe him.

More importantly, Johnson became emotional while discussing representation. He explained that, growing up, he never saw heroes on screen who looked like him. That is why it means so much to him that his daughters can now see brown girls, Polynesian women, and families that resemble their own at the center of a major Disney film.

That family connection is not merely symbolic. Johnson revealed that his mother and daughters make a brief appearance in the live-action film — a personal request he made to director Thomas Kail. “Our loved ones won’t be here forever,” he explained. He wanted to preserve that moment as a family memory.

Perhaps that is the most beautiful key to understanding his relationship with Moana. The character of Maui was inspired by his grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, a towering figure in Samoan culture and in Johnson’s own family history. By physically portraying Maui, Johnson says he feels as though he is carrying his grandfather, his mother, his daughters, and his Polynesian ancestry all at once.

That is why, when he says that Moana is “more than a movie,” it does not sound like a promotional slogan.

For him, it is culture. It is memory. It is family life transformed into cinema.

And at the heart of this story of islands, oceans, gods, and songs lies a profoundly human truth: raising a daughter may also mean learning to watch her leave, trusting her inner compass, and being there — not to prevent her from falling, but to help her rise again.

Because, ultimately, Moana’s journey was never just about reaching a destination. It was about discovering that she had carried the courage to get there within herself all along.