Disney’s “Moana 2” hit digital platforms Tuesday — and as a treat, TheWrap is debuting an exclusive look at one of the movie’s deleted scenes, called “Help Wanted,” that you can watch exclusively below.
The setting is just after Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) falls into a giant, Lovecraftian clam:
“There were so many elements inside the clam and they are all fun and exciting,” co-director David Derrick Jr. told TheWrap of the scene. “We had these creepy scavengers that would kind of go through everything that came into the clam.”
The “Moana 2” team imagined “this whole ecosystem of creatures,” he added. “There would be an environmental pyramid of power, where you have smaller creatures below and then ultimately you had these giants that seemed like they ruled this inner world.”
Derrick helmed the $1 billion-grossing sequel with co-directors Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller.
The “giants” – pig men that would make Moana’s poor pig friend Pua probably scream in terror – were a red herring, of course, when it was revealed that Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) was the actual ruler of this weird inner sanctum.
“It became a lot to juggle,” Derrick admitted. “And also with the limited time that animated films have, you have to keep the focus – What is the point? Why does this place exist? It does not exist for giant pig men or scavengers. It exists to show that Matangi is isolated, that she has been cut off. And by having other creatures, even though they were scary and even comedic, it spoke that there could be a connection that she even had there.”
Derrick and his team wanted to show that Matangi “has truly been disconnected from everything else. It made more sense to pull all those other creatures away.”
The inside of the clam went through many iterations during the long journey of “Moana 2.” And the filmmakers themselves felt lost inside the leviathan. Until they made a decision that proved incredibly fruitful.
“I think ultimately the big shift that actually unlocked everything was that we decided to put Maui inside the clam, and when Maui was inside of the clam, that is all we needed,” Derrick said. “Before that, there was no brief side quest for the crew to stumble upon Maui and then for their paths to collide with Moana. The monsters were born out of us looking for business and entertainment for the crew while Moana was with Matangi. But bringing in Maui solved so many things.”
“Moana 2” is now available on digital and becomes available in 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD March 18.
