Moana, Live-Action Moana Behind-the-Scenes Secrets

4. An initial research trip to the Pacific Islands changed the production team’s course. “We really spent time with people, sitting in villages with the elders, children, and academics, and going out sailing as well,” producer Osnat Shurer shared with Canada’s Tribute magazine in 2017. “We came back with such a deep appreciation for the culture, for the history, for the beauty of the people, and for the rhythms and the harmonies. So right then, we made the decision together that we really wanted to celebrate the culture; to bring forward its beauty, its subtlety, its wonder, its history.”

She felt particularly affected by one elder in Mo’oera “who said to us, ‘For years we have been swallowed by your culture. For once, can you be swallowed by ours?'” she revealed. “We took this very seriously.”

Among the lessons that shaped the eventual story: “That nature, the ocean in particular, is alive and sentient, and that the ocean connects us all,” explained Shurer. “That you need to know your mountain, that you need to know everything that came before you in order to know where you are standing. That through a relationship with nature, you can find your way. Those are deep and incredible things to learn, and there are so many cultures with beautiful messages yet to be celebrated by us all. It makes me very excited.”