Dwayne Johnson spills the beans on transformation for ‘Moana 2'

Dwayne Johnson recently articulated his thoughts on wearing a tattooed bodysuit during the shooting of the live-action film Moana 2.

After paparazzi saw him on the film's set, Johnson was asked by Extra if he had "bulked up" for the role since his body looked different in the photos.

Johnson, aka The Rock, admitted by saying, “That’s a suit that took a long time to put on. So, I’m so happy you said, ‘You bulked up,’ because when you say, ‘You bulked up,’ that means you couldn’t tell.”

The 52-year-old actor went on to say, “That is a couple of hours every day of transforming, putting that on. We shot outside and when those pictures surfaced, I was like, ‘S******, we got caught.’ Because we were putting up, like, walls so there was no paparazzi.”

Taking a jibe at paparazzi, the Black Adam star added, “But they got into boats and started shooting pictures. So, but I’m happy you liked it. I can’t wait. The movie comes out in 2026.”

Moving forward, he remarked that playing the character live on screen was “eye-opening.”

Johnson shared that after two animated films, he has a “handle on who Maui is: I know the voice, I know the man, I know his inspiration. I can access things. I got it,” however, portraying the demi-god in real life gave him “a new experience.”

“The moment I stepped on set…as live-action Maui, I realized right away, ‘Oh, wow, this is different,’ in terms of this is real flesh-and-blood and skin-and-bones. It becomes real all of the sudden. It was almost like getting in my grandfather’s skin and what that was like,” the Fast and Furious star concluded by saying.

For the unversed, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Johnson announced the live-action project in April 2023, with Johnson as one of the producers through his company, Seven Bucks Productions.

It is pertinent to mention that Moana 2, in which Johnson depicts Maui, hit theatres all across the United States on Wednesday, November 27, 2024.