Actor, inhuman legend and man whose giant arms we’ve all imagined falling asleep between (don’t lie), The Rock, has today revealed a previously unknown little tidbit about the 2016 Disney flick Moana: that his character was partly inspired by his IRL grandpa.
In the Disney Princess animated movie, Johnson plays Maui, a Polynesian demi-god who accompanies the titular Moana on her journey and who mostly appears in human form, a form we now know is aesthetically based on Dwayne’s Samoan G-Pa.
After the similarities between Johnson and his late grandfather were pointed out by Canadian writer Anthony Olivera (who fkn knows how he cottoned on to it, the dude’s a legit pop culture genius), The Rock himself tweeted confirmation the production was informed by his own dang family history.
Moana’s Maui VS @TheRock‘s literal actual grandfather pic.twitter.com/di1Hf4GlzF
— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) October 3, 2017
a lil’ @Disney gem of a secret, my character Maui was partly inspired by my late grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia of Samoa. #grateful https://t.co/VQgj8hJIcS
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 3, 2017
For a closer look at this, no-doubt supremely awesome dude (he’s related to The Rock, how could he not be) check it out up close:
This dude totally fucked.
Ahhh Disney, will the Easter Eggs ever end?
