After persistent rumors, we got word earlier this year that a live-action remake of Disney's Moana was officially moving forward, and the project has now found a director.
According to THR, Thomas Kail, the Tony Award-winning director of Broadway’s Hamilton, has been tapped to helm Disney’s new take on the 2016 animated musical.
Dwayne Johnson is set to reprise his role as Maui, the demigod of the wind and sea, but Auli‘i Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the original, will not play the character in live-action. She is, however, on board as an executive produce along with Scott Sheldon of Flynn Picture Co.
Moana focuses on "a young woman who disobeys her father, the chief of an island that is dealing with an impending ecological disaster and goes off on a quest to reunite a mystical relic with its owner, a goddess named Te Fiti. Along the way, she releases Maui from his island prison, is captured by a monstrous crab, and finds the strength to become the chief her father believed she could be."
This adaptation is expected to follow pretty much the same story, while it "celebrates the islands, communities and traditions of Pacific Islanders as seen through the eyes of a young woman eager to pave her own path."
"I’m deeply humbled and overcome with gratitude to bring the beautiful story of Moana to the live-action big screen," said Johnson when the project was first announced. "This story is my culture, and this story is emblematic of our people’s grace and warrior strength."
"I wear this culture proudly on my skin and in my soul, and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reunite with Maui, inspired by the mana and spirit of my late grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, is one that runs very deep for me. I want to thank my partners at Disney for their strong commitment to this special endeavor, because there is no better world for us to honor the story of our people, our passion and our purpose than through the realm of music and dance, which is at the core of who we are as Polynesian people."
No release date has been announced.