Auli'i Cravalho harbors no tolerance for those who mock Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo's heartfelt expressions during the emotional press tour for "Wicked." Speaking to Vanity Fair this week, Cravalho, the star of "Moana" and a seasoned Broadway actress, emphasized, "Being a theater kid is an emotional rollercoaster."
As the grandiose press tour for "Wicked" drew to a close last week, numerous online voices criticized the two leading ladies, Erivo and Grande, for their teary-eyed responses and dramatic declarations about their film-making journey. These critics poked fun at their emotional outbursts. "I want people to grasp what it's truly like to be a theater kid," Cravalho insisted. "Stop harassing my sisters Ariana and Cynthia. Do you get me? You have no clue what it's like to toil on a film for such an extended period. The movie spans two hours and forty minutes. If you don't shed a tear after collaborating with someone for that long, especially when you're both theater kids singing live...I'm deeply passionate about this cause."
Elsewhere during the interview, Cravalho reminisced about her return to the enchanting world of Disney's "Moana," noting that it has been a decade since she embarked on the journey of the first film. "I adore this character deeply," she confessed. "Her influence continues to astound me." Both Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson reprised their roles as the Polynesian wayfinder and the demigod Maui in the Disney sequel. During the London premiere of "Moana 2" last weekend, the native Hawaiian shared with The Hollywood Reporter, "While our previous film was about reconnecting with the past, this one is about bridging the gap with the future. We have a few characters in various situations that further propel this narrative. We have Simea, Moana's younger sister, who evokes such a profound emotional tug-of-war. Should we stay and bask in her warmth, or should we heed the call from our ancestors?"
Cravalho also revealed to Vanity Fair that she had re-recorded scenes from the first film in Ōlelo Hawai'i, a native Hawaiian language that faced a ban for several generations. "It was forbidden to speak for numerous eras, but now 'Moana' is being used as an educational tool to revive this language," she said. "'Moana' is not only one of the most widely translated Disney films, encompassing Indigenous languages like Te Reo Māori, Samoan, Tahitian, and Ōlelo Hawai'i, but she holds immense significance to me and countless others."
