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With Disney’s live-action Moana now streaming on Disney+, viewers are getting another look at Dwayne Johnson’s transformation into Maui and revisiting questions about his long, curly wig and the demigod’s seemingly missing nipples.

Director Thomas Kail has explained both details, including why Maui’s hair was essential to the character and why Johnson’s tattooed costume sometimes made the nipples hard to see. Dwayne previously voiced Maui in the animated Moana and Moana 2.

While speaking with Variety earlier this year, Thomas was asked whether he had been surprised by the online reaction to Dwayne‘s long, curly wig.

My joke about it was that I mostly saw Dwayne on set, so I didn’t know he was bald. Every time I saw Dwayne, he’s wearing that wig. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s great.’ As the conversation unfolded on the original Moana, pre-2016 when the prospect of Maui, who was going to be played by Dwayne, was presented to the advisors on the film without hair, it was immediately flagged because Maui’s power and spirit comes from his hair. Maui without hair is not Maui. So we knew Maui had to have it. It’s a different experience when you see it in a two-minute trailer. When folks have been watching the movie, you sort of say ‘there’s Maui,’ and then you don’t think about it.

On Maui’s seemingly missing nipples

Thomas also responded after viewers noticed that Maui’s nipples sometimes appear to be absent beneath his extensive tattoos.

“I can’t speak to much to the discourse and controversy around his nipples, other than he has them and sometimes you don’t see them,” the filmmaker told The Wrap.

The outlet noted that Dwayne wore a specially designed suit over his chest containing Maui’s tattoos and enhanced musculature. Thomas explained that multiple versions were needed because the production frequently moved between scenes filmed in and out of the water.

The live-action Moana is now streaming on Disney+. Find out if actress Catherine Laga’aia is really singing in the movie!

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