'Moana 2': Kiwi actors Temuera Morrison, Dave Fane, Awhimai Fraser dive deep into hit Disney sequel

With Moana 2 hitting cinemas today in both te reo Māori and English, cast members Dave Fane, Temuera Morrison and Awhimai Fraser told Herald’s Mitchell Hageman how it all came together, and why the movies' themes and ideas are more prevalent than ever before.

The highly anticipated Disney animated sequel Moana 2 hits New Zealand cinemas this week, and three of the Kiwi cast members couldn’t be prouder.

Jam-packed with new songs, unique characters, and a deeply inspiring message, the film’s homegrown stars believe the notion of “going beyond the reef,” and “getting on your waka” are things all tamariki and whānau can learn from.

Continuing three years after the events of Moana (2016), the new film follows Moana of Motunui (Auliʻi Cravalho), the strong-willed daughter of Polynesian Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison), as she embarks on a new ocean adventure after an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors.

Along the way, she’s helped by her demigod friend Maui (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), the “grumpy” yet loveable Kele (Dave Fane) and encounters the mysterious new adversary Matangi (Awhimai Fraser).

Morrison, Fraser and Fane spoke with the Herald to discuss the sequel and its impact. Read the interview - which has been edited for length - below.

Dave Fane (left), Awhimai Fraser and Temuera Morrison discuss working on the Disney animated sequel "Moana 2". Photo / Carson Bluck

Did you all feel a little bit of a sense of responsibility and weight going into this one considering that the first movie was such a smash hit?

FRASER: Absolutely. As a new character, it’s quite a daunting thing. It’s an exciting thing, but you’re also trying to figure out the world and figure out the voice and the emotional story and why your character is who they are with as little information as possible really being given.

It’s a fascinating process, I think I feel very warmly welcomed into the Disney whānau, very much so. But also, to have Tem [Morrison], and Rach [Rachel House], and Jermaine [Clement] and to have some really tino pou [good posts] of this industry there before us creates a sense of safety and of pride to walk into that space.

MORRISON: I guess I’m just kind of proud and honoured to be called back. I remember going into the first one and the audition process too. Even though it was voiceover, they still wanted to record you on camera just to get a sense of you too.

It was all about performance when I auditioned for the part. I had no idea what I was going to do, but then I just thought, maybe something like The Lion King might come in handy [puts on a staunch voice], not too much like Mufasa though.

What did you do for your voice? [Gestures to Dave Fane]

FANE: I wasn’t too fussed at all. I sort of walked in, met [the directors and producers], and sort of had a laugh and started doing it. I only started crapping my pants when it was changed from an original TV series to a movie. That’s when I sort of had to mind adjust and really focus because with TV you have a bit more time to laugh and a bit more time with play. When the stakes went further, that’s when I had to pretend I knew what I was doing.

But it’s wonderful, and when you speak about responsibility, I think it’s the responsibility of being part of good storytelling of this area [Polynesia], and for people that aren’t familiar with us, about honouring the work that Disney is doing because no one else is doing that. I was honoured, and yeah, a bit more serious than usual.

In "Moana 2", Moana navigates the seas with her new wayfinding crew featuring the "grumpy" Kele (left) voiced by Dave Fane. Photo / Disney

MORRISON: Tell that lovely story about how you came up with your voice.

FANE: It’s about the grumpiness, because he’s an older guy, and I always laugh about older people when you meet them that they seem to hold on to some pain, like that they stubbed their toe a month ago and they’re still on about it.

“Oh, I stub my toe.”

“When?”

“A month ago, but it’s still the same.”

It’s still, you know, that whole grumpiness and embodying that in your voice, and you get your body involved and you hunch over. I was up by the microphone hunched over doing this and it was fun.

It’s fun, because like Tem said, it’s the colouring of the voice that the animator can use. We all have to work together, animator, voice actor combined to really knuckle down. If one doesn’t quite work, the other doesn’t work.

[Morrison] did 228 takes, I did ...

FRASER: 350! [laughs].

MORRISON: I wasn’t used to so many takes either. I’m a one-take Tem man, and after take three, I get worse, so you’ve got to get me early [laughs].

Kiwi comic legend Dave Fane plays a new character called Kele in Disney's "Moana 2". Photo / Carson Bluck

There’s no shortage of Kiwi talent in this film, right? We’ve got Rose Matafeo, we’ve got Rachel House, and obviously you guys, I mean, was it almost like a bit of a family reunion? Did you get much time to work together in the studio and bounce ideas off each other during the film?

FANE: No, we end up in the studio all separate. I think it was mainly because it couldn’t contain our power.

So, we all did our bits separately, and what was fun was actually meeting everyone and going, oh, so that’s what happens. Because you only get given the pieces that you’re doing, it was really fun connecting all the dots.

MORRISON: But you’re right about the talent. It’s full of so much talent and in both [the English and te reo Māori] versions. And it’s exciting, of course, to be part of the premiere and that’s really when we come together.

When we’re actually going through the process of making it, you’re just by yourself generally and you normally react to the other people in the studio in Los Angeles. So, there’s a director and producers and a big crew zooming in.

Generally, it’s just you in the booth just with the microphone. I always get the directors to feed the lines so you can reply in a nice spontaneous way. Sometimes, it’s how we determine how we say our lines, by the listening.

It’s still quite a meticulous effort required because a lot of it is just voice. You’ve got to bring colours to the voice, and you’ve got to bring emotion. You’ve got to bring the heart, the highs, and the lows. And boy, I tell you, with Disney voiceovers, I’m watching the movie and I’m going, they used take 228! It’s very meticulous work.

FANE: But fun aye?

MORRISON: Yeah, but the highlight is when we all came together at the premiere. [That] was an example, and to be amongst such talent, as you said earlier, the talent is phenomenal.

[Notions to Awhimai Fraser] She plays one of the newer characters and she’s just dynamic. Jaedyn Randell, who plays Moana in the te reo version, she was on the voice in Australia and came runner-up, so that’s how good they are.

[The film’s talent is] across Pasifika too, we have the music of Te Vaka back again, and even with the language, we have like a mix of Samoan, Tokelau and Māori in there.

FANE: It’s really the combination of bringing all those languages together and sort of making a new language that concerns itself with Motunui. It’s really good, it’s really exciting, you know, a bit like how they probably did it back then as well.

Awhimai Fraser plays the mysterious new character of Matangi in "Moana 2". Photo / Disney

Tem and Awhimai, you play your roles in the te reo version as well. How empowering was that to be able to share our national language with the world like that? And are you stoked that Disney is deciding to do more of these types of films?

MORRISON: It’s quite amazing for me, because I’m mature enough to know that back in the day, people were working in media and were saying words like ‘Kia ora’ and answering the phone and they would get in trouble.

We weren’t even allowed to hear our sound, so our waka in terms of where our language is coming along, and what’s happening with people like Scotty Morrison and Stacey and the way broadcasters are now relishing the language and saying things on mainstream television, I would never imagine seeing that back in the day.

It’s becoming more normal, and when you think of our kōhanga reo kids, we have a generation now that have gone to intermediate and high schools where they learn all the subjects in Māori. Now, they can go to the movies and feel good and feel proud that it’s been reflected back.

I enjoy speaking te reo and really relishing it. I think it takes on kind of a different feeling. Someone asked me last night, what’s the difference in speaking in te reo as opposed to doing the normal English version? I’m still coming up with the answers for it, but it does feel a little bit more, and sort of like the heart beats a good beat.

FRASER: I think the beautiful thing about te reo Māori is that with te reo Māori comes a te ao Māori perspective, an innate and tūturu Māori perspective.

With that also comes our tikanga, and the ways in which we say particular things. You know, instead of saying, “enjoy your lunch” it’s “have a good kai, have a good feed”.

With that comes a new energy as well, a new sense of energy through these lines of dialogue.

MORRISON: We must pay respects to Matewa Media, that’s Tweedy Waititi, Taika’s sister, Chelsea Winstanley and their whole production team. Here’s some mana wahine working hard. It’s not their first [Disney te reo Māori dub] either. They did the first Moana, they did Coco.

FRASER: And The Lion King and Frozen.

MORRISON: My daughter loves Frozen.

In the latest film, Moana is a big sister to toddler Simea. Photo / Disney

FRASER: It’s definitely a whānau effort to bring it together, and for it to be the first time in history to release a movie in te reo Māori alongside Disney in collaboration.

[At the premiere] It was beautiful to have a picture wall with both Moana 2 and Moana 2 te reo Māori. That was a huge sense of pride for us, and for our tamariki to have the opportunity to go to the movies and listen to it and watch it in te reo Māori if they wish.

MORRISON: I think that we’re fortunate here in New Zealand that we have these people and the expertise, and they will take it on board and work hard to get it done.

FANE: It’s not a concept that’s foreign, which is nice. For it to not be foreign in your own country is wonderful.

The te reo version was awesome. It was very different, it had a very different opening feel to any opening that I’ve been to before. It was organic, it was honour, it was pride.

I got to meet the guy who plays my character, and I was just fanboying out, to be honest. It was just wonderful to know that we have this connection of playing this character.

We talk about this film and how lots of kids will be flocking to the cinemas to see both the English and the te reo versions. What’s the main kind of message that comes from the film that’s so important for this next generation of tamariki?

FANE: I think Tem said it best in an interview we did overseas. It was to go beyond the reef.

For children to think outside of their comfort zone and go further and push yourself. You might not get there the first time, but you go again.

It’s a theme throughout the movie, with adults, children, and people that are dead also. Our ancestors are always there with us as well before us and after us.

MORRISON: And mum and dad get 90 minutes free from the kids [laughs]. They’re in the background; they can hear it. It’s a family thing to do. But as Dave was saying, I think the message too is get on your waka. Equip yourself with appropriate people on your waka, supportive people who will paddle and voyage with you heading towards your goal, heading towards those stars in the sky.

And it’s also a revival of our culture too. We have men and women sailing the same routes as our ancestors and bringing back those skills that our ancestors had sailing by the stars and things like that.

It’s awakening Polynesia as well and the music and the rhythms. So, get on your waka Mitchell, get on your waka. Sometimes your waka might change in life. You were going along this journey and then you realise it’s not quite for you this waka, so jump on another waka and go forward on that one. But make sure you equip yourself with the right crew, Moana obviously nailed that.

You’ve got to have people around you paddling towards what you want to achieve. And then the ones that aren’t paddling this way you’ve got to throw them overboard. It’s good to have people on your waka that are all going like this the same way, with the same vision, same positivity.

FANE: You said it really well. Get people around you that will help make things happen. Those people are the ones that hold you up, and when they’re on their own journey, you are the one holding them up. It’s such a Pacific region concept that to us makes common sense. It’s just life, you know, any anyone in New Zealand or the Pacific region, it’s just the way we are.

Moana 2 hits Kiwi cinemas nationwide in English and te reo Māori from November 28.

Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.