Moana (2016)

[size=200]‘Moana’ Voice Cast Adds Nicole Scherzinger, Jemaine Clement, Alan Tudyk[/size]



JULY 25, 2016

Nicole Scherzinger, Jemaine Clement, Alan Tudyk, Rachel House and Temuera Morrison have joined the voice cast of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Moana.”

Disney, which is opening “Moana” on Nov. 23, 2016, had previously announced that Auli‘i Cravalho is voicing the title character Moana, a teenager who dreams of becoming a master wayfinder, and Dwayne Johnson as the voice of Maui — half god, half mortal.

Co-directors are Ron Clements and John Musker, who were behind “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.”

“Our assembled voice cast for this film is beyond our wildest dreams,” said Musker. “We are so fortunate to have this group of talented actors, many from Oceania, breathing life into their characters.”

Clement, best known for being half of Flight of the Conchords, provides the voice of Tamatoa as a self-absorbed, 50-foot crab who lives in Lalotai, the realm of monsters. Tudyk, who has provided voices for “Zootopia,” “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Big Hero 6,” is behind the voice of Heihei, a dumb rooster who stows away on Moana’s canoe by accident.

Scherzinger voices Moana’s mother Sina, who always has her daughter’s back and appreciates Moana’s longing to be on the water, but also wants to protect her from the dangers beyond the reef.

House, who stars in “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” lends her voice to Gramma Tala, Moana’s confidante and best friend, who shares her granddaughter’s special connection to the ocean.

Morrison, who appears in “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,” voices Moana’s father Chief Tui, the gregarious and well-respected leader of the people of Motunui Island. He wants Moana to follow in his footsteps as leader of their people, but fears his daughter’s draw to the ocean and the world that lies beyond their reef.

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First look! Tomatoa the villain (voiced by Jemaine Clement).

onlyalways wrote:

Tomatoa the villain (voiced by Jemaine Clement).

Zabel wrote:I know people complain that he plays too many villains but he's so good at it. I love him as a villain.

Zabel wrote:I know people complain that he plays too many villains but he's so good at it. I love him as a villain.

Zabel wrote:I know people complain that he plays too many villains but he's so good at it. I love him as a villain.

blondesnotbombs wrote: (and :#cheer#: for another Disney heroine who is not white)

onlyalways wrote:

blondesnotbombs wrote: (and :#cheer#: for another Disney heroine who is not white)

YES. :#cheer#: :#cheer#:

Amily wrote:I LOVE IT SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

:#heart#: :#fit#: :#heart#: :#fit#: :#heart#: :#fit#: :#heart#: :#fit#: :#heart#:

What was the most unexpected musical influence you found when you were working on Moana?

Probably the song I worked on for Jermaine Clement, the voice of Tamatoa the crab. When I heard I was writing a song for a jewel crab, having mourned David Bowie along with the rest of the world and having David Bowie honestly be one of the formative childhood villains of my youth, having grown up with Labrinth and knowing Jermaine’s amazing Bowie tribute in Flight Of The Conchords, I said “I get to write a Bowie tune for a crab: that’s what I work on with Shiny”. It was very Glam rock influenced, that whole Ziggy Stadust era. A giant crab who sang like “Look Fabulous”. It was all I could do not to say “Look Crabulous”.

Amily wrote:ALSO: :#six#: And this: :#shy#: Because it's a song for a Disney movie and I feel like I shouldn't be having these kinds of feelings. :#haha#:

emira wrote:

What was the most unexpected musical influence you found when you were working on Moana?

Probably the song I worked on for Jermaine Clement, the voice of Tamatoa the crab. When I heard I was writing a song for a jewel crab, having mourned David Bowie along with the rest of the world and having David Bowie honestly be one of the formative childhood villains of my youth, having grown up with Labrinth and knowing Jermaine’s amazing Bowie tribute in Flight Of The Conchords, I said “I get to write a Bowie tune for a crab: that’s what I work on with Shiny”. It was very Glam rock influenced, that whole Ziggy Stadust era. [size=150:2omwj3sw]A giant crab who sang like “Look Fabulous”. It was all I could do not to say “Look Crabulous”.

source: [url=GQ: Hamilton creator's message to Trump: 'We hope you work on behalf of all of us.'][/url]

That explains a lot :#love3#:

Amily wrote:I have to wait to see it until next week unless I want to go by myself and well, I think that might be weird so I'm waiting. :#haha#: :#sadlove#:

'Moana' Costar Jemaine Clement on His Crab-tastic David Bowie Impression
Gwynne Watkins
November 28, 2016

David Bowie never appeared in a Disney film during his lifetime, but he makes an appearance of sorts in Moana. One of the new Disney adventure’s big musical numbers takes place under the sea, where a greedy crab named Tamatoa sings about his love of all things “Shiny.” Bowie fans will recognize the song (written by Hamilton composer Lin-Manuel Miranda) as an affectionate homage to the glam-rock legend, who passed away from cancer in January at the age of 69. Tamatoa is voiced by Jemaine Clement, half of the New Zealand comedy-folk duo Flight of the Conchords and a man known for his spot-on Bowie impression. But he didn’t know when he signed on for Moana that he’d be channeling the Thin White Duke.

“That was Lin’s idea,” Clement told Yahoo Movies on the phone from Sydney on Tuesday, shortly before his appearance at the ARIA Awards . “If you hear Lin’s demo [of “Shiny”], which is on the soundtrack, you can tell that he’s doing an impression of my impression of David Bowie.”

Miranda, who has called “Shiny” his favorite Moana song, wrote it specifically for fellow Bowie fan Clement — though Clement didn’t actually listen to it until right before his recording session. “I didn’t realize they had sent me a [song] file,” he confessed with a laugh. “And [when I heard it] I went, ‘Oh, this is tricky!’”

During the recording session at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Miranda chimed in via Skype from New York where he was still performing on Broadway in Hamilton. It wasn’t the first time the two had met: Back in 2004, Miranda’s rap group Freestyle Love Supreme opened for Flight of the Conchords at the Aspen Music Festival. “I had no idea he was going to be the Lin Manuel-Miranda that we know today,” said Clement. “I have a memory of watching their show, and him incorporating Flight of the Conchords into the lyrics of the song he was singing.”

Clement invented his crustacean character over the course of two studio sessions, which included plenty of improvisation. “[In the film] there’s a mention of me eating my grandma,” Clement recalled. “So I riffed a lot on, ‘I was just saying that to be scary! I wouldn’t really do that to my grandma!’ Because he’s not totally evil, Tamatoa.” Clement added that his character’s hilarious end-credits cameo, which references another famous Disney crab, was written by the screenwriters.

Though Clement is used to being asked to do Bowie — or in his modest words, “what I would say is not a very accurate David Bowie impression” — the gag has taken on a different meaning since the singer’s death. “When Bret [McKenzie] and I did the Conchords on tour this year, the first time that we sang our Bowie song after he died, I found myself very emotional about it, thinking that he’d gone. Singing ‘Bowie’s in Space’ — it felt like a different meaning.”

Clement is particularly excited to show his Moana performance to his Disney-loving eight-year-old son, although he acknowledges that the sight of his dad playing animated antagonists (including an evil cockatoo in Rio and an evil giant in The BFG) has become familiar. “He’s a little offended at this point,” Clements said. “Like, ‘You’re not bad, Dad! Why are you always a bad guy?’ I’m not sure what to tell him about that!”