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WATCH: Dwayne Johnson reacts to everyone roasting his viral 'Moana' wig

Dwayne Johnson as Maui with long, curly hair, tribal tattoos across his chest and arms, wearing a leafy skirt and tooth necklace, holding a wooden staff outdoors.

Published by Cover Media and Sophie van Soest

08 Jul 2026

Dwayne Johnson "laughed so hard" at the response to his wig in the live-action 'Moana' remake.

The wrestler-turned-actor, who voiced the demigod Maui in the animated 'Moana' in 2016, has reprised his role in person for the upcoming live-action remake.

As Johnson is best known for his bald look, fans were stunned to see him with a flowing brunette mane, and the internet erupted with memes poking fun at his new appearance.

Speaking to Variety at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Moana' on Tuesday, the Jumanji actor insisted he found the response to his wig "very funny".

"I laughed so f**king hard when we first came out, and people saw me in a wig for the first time," he said.

"They memed me. The internet did the internet. It was very, very funny, but I was like, 'OK, it's alright, just see the movie. Wait until you see it's Maui's superpower; it's all good."

Johnson added that he tried 12 different wigs to get it right, and once wore it off-set at 2am on a Saturday after having "a lot of tequila".

Our own rova reporter Monika Barton also caught up with the Maui actor during the 'Moana' world tour in Sydney last month.

Johnson, who famously described his natural hair as a cross between an "afro and the hair on a llama's ball sack," in a tweet from 2017, said despite being "memed up and beat up" (which he actually found very entertaining), the wig gave him a lot of mana, and also reminded him of his beloved grandfather, who the character's look was based on.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the songs for the original animation plus a new track for the remake, also defended Johnson's wig.

"A lot of you forget that Dwayne Johnson's debut was in 'The Scorpion King', where he had a gorgeous mane of hair," he quipped.

"And all of you freaking out, this is Scorpion King erasure. I won't stand for it. I'm so glad that he has his hair and his mana back, where it belongs."

Disney's live-action 'Moana' is in cinemas from July 8th.

Published by Cover Media and Sophie van Soest

08 Jul 2026