The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub speaks with
Moana 2
directors Dana Ledoux Miller, David Derrick Jr., and Jason Hand.
In the sequel, Moana sets out on an epic adventure after a mysterious and unexpected message from her ancestors.
In this interview, the filmmakers discuss where to catch Easter eggs, which scenes were most challenging, and how the story was adapted from a Disney+ series to a Disney animated feature.

Like the wayfinder herself, the filmmakers behind this epic sequel took on a gargantuan task with Moana 2 as she sets her sights and sails toward expansion. Originally, directors Dana Ledoux Miller, David Derrick Jr., and Jason Hand were going to bring our heroine back in a Disney+ series that would “introduce all these new characters,” but as their team got further into development, it was clear the story demanded a much bigger screen.

It’s been three years since Moana (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho) restored the heart of Te Fiti. Now, she’s a skilled navigator for her community and a big sister to Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda). When Moana is unexpectedly called by her ancestors, she’ll have to embark on a dangerous journey to Oceania where a legendary island is swathed in storms. To help guide her through the stormy seas, she’ll enlist the help of all new friends, as well as old friends like Pua, Heihei, and the mighty Maui (Dwayne Johnson)!

During this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Miller, Derrick Jr., and Hand discuss their own adventure in animation, when they ultimately decided that a series didn’t quite serve Moana’s return. Though a feature film required overcoming new obstacles, the trio shares with us that the big-screen narrative “actually just strengthened Moana’s growth and the theme of the story,” and they were “able to learn things from the series that just supercharged the feature.” Check out the full conversation in the player above or in the transcript below for where to catch Disney Easter eggs, how they decided on the end credits scene, which shots were the most challenging, and tons more.

Here’s Where You Can Catch Some Disney Easter Eggs in ‘Moana 2’

COLLIDER: A lot of people who read Collider really know how the movies are made, and they love, like me, learning about Easter eggs and things that are hidden in the movie. So, how many hidden Mickeys are in the film? What can you tease about the Easter eggs?

JASON HAND: Dave, how many hidden mechanics?

DAVID DERRICK JR: We nod a lot to the first film. There are lots of elements. We have such an incredible foundation of the first film. There are direct lines of dialogue and even showing the growth of Pua, himself. I love that Pua gets to go on the journey this time. He’s got a little tusk. There are a few in there, but I hate spoiling them.

Maybe you can say, like, “You should look in this scene,” or something.

DANA LEDOUX MILLER: There’s a moment in the third act in the storm, the crew is going up over a big wave, and one of the characters is dumping some weight off the canoe. There’s a little something, something in there for you.

Sure, okay. Thank you. [Laughs]

MILLER: You’re welcome.

HAND: A lot of them are very subtle, but I think probably the most we have are about nods to the first film. If you love the first Moana, there’s going to be a lot for you — callbacks, lines of dialogue, that kind of stuff within this for sure.

Image via Disney

One of the things about animated movies that people don’t realize is some shots are way harder than others. What was the shot or sequence that the animation team was like, “Are you sure? Do we really need to do this?”

HAND: A lot of them.

MILLER: [Laughs] I would say a lot. We have this incredible storm in the third act, and there were moments where we thought we might have to simplify it because we didn’t know if we could build something so complex. But I will say our effects artists refused to compromise, and so they would come in every day with something new. We weren’t sure exactly what it was going to all look like when it was put together because of the complexity of water and tornadoes on the water, and this epic storm above it all working together was immense.

Every time anything touches that water, you have to build a new sim around it. If a hand goes into the water, one person has to build something around that, a tornado moving through the water… We ended up building these cloud skirts around the base of the tornado that were blowing off water and mist, just so that we wouldn’t have to show the interaction with every single tornado, or we never would have finished the movie. But it ends up looking awesome. So, we have incredible problem-solvers working with us.

HAND: One of the things about the animation that I was really blown away by, even if you just look at it from the first film, is the subtlety that our animators are able to actually achieve. There’s so much subtext that’s happening in the characters’ eyes that I think, because they’ve been working on these films year after year, the other Disney animated films, they really have an incredible ability to act in a way that the tools allow them to get even more subtle than they need, than they were able to do in the first film. And so, as filmmakers and storytellers, to have your characters be even more alive on screen is such a gift. So, I would say the skill of the people that we work with is this special effect that you can’t really quantify.

Also, everyone working on it just loves working on it.

HAND: It’s true.

MILLER: That helps. [Laughs]

100%. Especially when it’s long hours.

‘Moana 2’s End Credits Scene “Kept Evolving” With the Story
“We really just like the idea of having a little bit more.”
Image via Disney

So you have an after-the-credits scene — I will not spoil it. How much did you debate including one, and how much did you debate what it would be?

DERRICK JR: It was baked in.

MILLER: It was baked in, but there was a last-minute change to it. It was something that kept evolving the way the rest of the story did. I think the foundation of it was we introduced a demigod and a god into the world, and we really just like the idea of having a little bit more.

I have a feeling that this won’t be the end of her journey. I’m confident in saying that.

How a Disney+ Series Became ‘Moana 2’
Image via Disney

One of the things that I’m so curious about is originally this was going to be a Disney+ series, then it became a movie. What from the Disney+ series ended up being the movie? Because you have choices on how much of that story you want to bring in.

DERRICK JR: It was always the same overarching story and emotional journey that we wanted to tell every time. We wanted to introduce all these new characters. It was a story about connection and personal growth. What the series gave us was an opportunity to get to know these characters intimately, the way you can with a series, but what we were doing in the story just begged for a bigger and bigger screen. So, as soon as we funneled all of the learnings from our new characters through Moana’s journey, it actually just strengthened Moana’s growth and the theme of the story. So, there wasn’t, for me, anything left out from the series. We were able to learn things from the series that just supercharged the feature.

People have told me today that there were songs that you did for the Disney+ series that are unreleased. Do you know if there’s any plan for those songs to be heard by fans?

MILLER: I don’t know.

HAND: Yeah, I’m not sure, actually.

MILLER: I actually have no idea. [Laughs]

HAND: That’s a great question.

MILLER: We’ve just been, like, “Can we get to November 27th?” That’s a great question. We’ll look into it.

Related Fans Just Got a Look At ‘Moana 2’s Newest Crew Members at LightBox Expo The Disney sequel debuts on November 27.

One of the things about animated movies is that they can go through tremendous change. Did you end up with a lot of deleted scenes, or what was the biggest change from when you started to what people are actually going to see?

HAND: Yeah, that is normal, like you said, on every film that we’ve done. Because we did start out as a series, there was probably a bit more of actually having to rehone some things because it had to all be told through Moana’s point of view. But that’s so normal for us. I don’t know, in a sense, it felt like we were doing our normal story process of, like, “It’s not good enough yet,” or we find a new idea, and we run that back through the rest of it. I don’t know. Is there something specific?

DERRICK JR: No, I think it all led to finding the best possible solution. But yeah, there are a few scenes, and I think they’ll be available upon DVD release.

MILLER: That we can say! Yeah, there will be some deleted scenes coming soon. We might have prepped that.

What was the last thing you cut out before picture locking, and why?

HAND: I think we tightened a few things up.

DERRICK JR: It was trims, I would say.

and like the last deleted scene, if you will, you know, it’s insane. Yeah. Like what? Was there something that you were like, this is great, but we got to cut this.

MILLER: Nips and tucks. Because I think we really pushed hard on the story.

HAND: And the pacing to make sure was really firing. We might have cut a line or an end of a joke or something, but I can’t think of what specifically it was.

Moana 2 makes waves in theaters on November 27.

After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.Director David G. Derrick Jr. , Jason Hand , Dana Ledoux Miller Cast Auli’i Cravalho , Dwayne Johnson , Alan Tudyk , Rachel House , Temuera Morrison , Nicole Scherzinger , Hualālai Chung , David Fane , Rose Matafeo , Awhimai Fraser , Gerald Ramsey , Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda Runtime 100 Minutes Writers Dana Ledoux Miller , Jared Bush , Jason Hand , Ron Clements , John Musker Studio(s) Walt Disney Pictures , Walt Disney Animation Studios

Get Tickets