Dwayne Johnson has insisted that he took the jibes about the way his character looks in the new live-action reimagining of Moana in his stride.

Released this coming Friday, a decade after the animated version of Moana hit cinemas, Disney’s latest remake will see Johnson reprising his role as Maui, the character he voiced in the beloved original film.

However, when the first teaser for the movie premiered earlier this year, many admitted they found The Rock’s wig a little distracting, leading to it becoming something of a meme on social media.

“I laughed so fucking hard, when we first came out and people saw me in a wig for the first time, and they memed me,” he told Variety at the film’s premiere.

“The internet did the internet. It was very, very funny. I was like, ‘OK, it’s alright, just see the movie, wait till you see it’.”

And while the former wrestler insisted he never wore his Maui wig out and about, he “can maybe confirm” that he wore it “at around two o’clock in the morning on a Saturday”.

“Just saying,” he quipped. “I had a lot of tequila.”

The original Moana film featured Auliʻi Cravalho and Johnson as its titular heroine and her right-hand demi-god.

Moana is now considered a modern Disney classic, and over the last decade, it has consistently appeared among the most-streamed movies of the last 12 months every year.

A sequel, Moana 2, was met with a slightly more tepid response upon its release in 2024, with newcomer Catherine Laga’aia taking over the main role in Disney’s new live-action feature.

Moana songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda – who landed his first Oscar nomination for his work on the first film – also wrote an extra song for the remake, having previously not been involved in the animated sequel.