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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has a lot to say about Catherine Laga'aia, the teen star of the new Moana live-action film - and it will make your heart melt!
Speaking on stage at the International Convention Centre for the Sydney press event on June 25, The Rock said he was so impressed by Catherine's work ethic and the way she took on the weight of such an immense project:
"I've had the great honour of just having a front row seat in watching this young lady - I have chills - watching this young lady not only take on the role of Moana but the pressure of what this means. Not only to our culture, and to hold up our culture and represent our culture to the world, but also, it's Moana, and this has been around for a decade. And it's beloved around the world and the music is beloved. And it takes guts to step, I think, to step into the role of Moana."
The actor, who stars as demigod Maui in the film, added, "This young lady came to us when she was, I think, 17...and she embodied this role with grace and with humility, like our Polynesian culture, that's what we do."
According to the New South Wales Department of Education, Catherine was doing her HSC while she was filming the project. Although she was on set in the USA for the year, she still had to hand in her work to her teachers in Australia!
"We had her emailing assessment tasks and exams back and forth from the set of Moana, to ensure that she was able to complete her HSC while filming," Daniel Kavanagh, head of Drama at Newtown Performing Arts High School, said.
Now 18 years of age, Catherine is on a global press tour for the film.
(Feature Image Credit: RobertCooper/Shutterstock.com)
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