By Andrew Hamlin
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Voicing a new character in a bold new sequel to a hit Disney film could seem like a tall order. Hawai’i native Hualālai (pronounced “Hoo-wah-laah-lie”) Chung had already entered the world of filmmaking—a little less than voluntarily.
“I had a really good friend who was also friends with a director that makes short films, based on native Hawaiian stories,” remembered Chung, who voices the new character of “Moni,” in Disney’s upcoming “Moana 2.”
“I had come home one day and my family told me, ‘By the way, so-and-so has a film, and one of their actors dropped out, and we kinda volunteered you to play that role.’ So it was an all-night rush, to learn my lines, learn who my role was. And even though it could be considered rushed, and stressed, it was probably one of my favorite experiences of all.”
Was he nervous?
“You know, I was raised that nerves are temporary. So, everybody will get nervous, but it’ll go away, and everything will become second nature. Push through, enjoy the experience, because time doesn’t last forever.”
His attitude stems from, he confessed, growing up in a family of performers.
Hualālai Chung
“My first love will always be dancing. [Hawai’i is] the melting pot of the South Pacific, we have so many cultures. Growing up, my parents were in the entertainment industry in Hawai’i, and one of my first loves was Samoan fire knife dancing. Over time, I learned to have that same love for other things.”
And where was he when he learned he got the part of Moni?
I walked into the kitchen, from the garage, of my grandmother’s house where I was living at the time, where my auntie was also living, who was my agent back in Hawai’i. All the curtains were drawn.
“When I opened the door, a big boombox went off with all of the ‘Moana 1’ music, my cousins threw confetti and everything. They broke down in tears. And it took me five or 10 seconds to understand what was happening. I was at a loss for words.”
He was grateful, of course, for the break. But voice acting required a different skill set, from live acting.
“I felt [voice acting] required more heart and soul. You had to really visualize these emotions in your head, because you didn’t have an environment to play off of, you didn’t have other actors to play off of.
“And it was a really fun experience being able to utilize and stretch the lengths and the strengths of your creativity and your imagination. Super fun, I would do it over and over.”
Asked if he found the new songs difficult to learn and sing, Chung replied, “I won’t say difficult. I will say that Emily [Bear] and Abigail [Barlow] are an amazing songwriting team, so much heart and spirit. I think we put pressure on ourselves, to want to achieve the dream that they set out achieving when they wrote the songs.
“As a fellow songwriter myself, you have a vision, a feeling, and more so, you have a vision that you want audiences to connect with when you write songs. That’s the beauty of songwriting.”
And those songs, he said, stuck with him the most, when he recently got to see the finished film.
“I got a chance to see the film for the first time this past Saturday, at our big wrap party. The film went way beyond my expectations. The animation is great, the colors pop, but the thing that got me the most, was the music.
“Feeling the maturity of the music in this film, as it aligns with the maturity of Moana as a character, the storyline, and I think there’s enough evolution to the story that’ll suit everybody’s needs.”
“Moana 2” opens on Nov. 27. Check local listings for venues, prices, and showtimes.