Catherine Laga’aia Bintangi Film Live Action Moana di Bioskop

Aktris remaja asal Australia, Catherine Laga'aia, resmi memulai debut layar lebarnya sebagai pemeran utama dalam film live-action Moana besutan Disney yang mulai tayang di bioskop pada Jumat, 10 Juli 2026.

Dilansir dari USA Today, remaja berusia 19 tahun tersebut sempat mengabaikan panggilan audisi karena merasa peluangnya untuk mendapatkan peran pahlawan wanita Polinesia itu sangat kecil.

"I just disappeared," kata Catherine Laga'aia saat mengenang momen ketika ia tiba-tiba berhenti sekolah setelah terpilih menjadi Moana.

Kabar tersebut sempat dikira hasil rekayasa kecerdasan buatan oleh teman-temannya karena sang ayah sering membuat konten serupa.

"Nobody knew where I went. The rumors were insane on what I'd been doing and where I'd gone. … I was in the hair and makeup trailer for a screen test when I got announced, and people were DMing me, being like, 'Girl, this is AI.' My dad's always making stupid AI stuff, so they're like: 'This is really lame, Katie.

This isn't funny.' I was like, look at the Disney account!" ujar Catherine Laga'aia.

Keluarga Laga'aia sebenarnya tidak asing dengan dunia akting karena sang ayah, Jay Laga'aia, merupakan pemeran Captain Typho dalam prekuel Star Wars, sementara saudara-saudaranya terlibat dalam teater musikal di Australia.

"He knows how ruthless this industry can be, and you're going to get 1,000 more nos than you are yeses," tutur Catherine Laga'aia mengenai kekhawatiran ayahnya.

Sang ayah sempat cemas putrinya akan menghadapi penolakan keras di industri perfilman.

"Sending your kid into that, you know they're kind of setting themselves up for rejection," kata Catherine Laga'aia.

Sebelum mendapatkan peran besar ini, portofolio akting Laga'aia terbilang sangat minim dan ia sempat bekerja sebagai karyawan ritel.

"I worked at Target," ucap Catherine Laga'aia sambil bercanda mengenai pekerjaan masa lalunya.

Ia awalnya ragu untuk mencoba karena merasa kemungkinannya sangat kecil seperti memenangkan lotre.

"To me, it felt like putting in for the lottery. The chances of me getting it are so poor that I'm just hurting my feelings for no reason. But my mom was adamant.

She's like, 'You'll never know unless you try.' So then I had to buck up and do it," jelas Catherine Laga'aia.

Jumlah audisi yang ia lalui sangat banyak hingga dirinya sendiri lupa angka pastinya.

"I change the number depending on who I'm trying to impress," kelakar Catherine Laga'aia.

Proses produksi sempat tersendat akibat aksi mogok kerja serikat pekerja Hollywood pada tahun 2023.

"This is never going to happen. They're never going to green-light this again." ungkap Catherine Laga'aia yang sempat takut proyek film ini akan mati.

Dari 32.000 aktris yang mengirimkan rekaman audisi, saudara perempuan Laga'aia juga turut berpartisipasi tanpa ada rasa persaingan yang buruk.

"Both of them were so excited," ujar Catherine Laga'aia.

Ia juga teringat pengalaman masa lalu saat dirinya ditolak dalam audisi untuk memerankan anak dari karakter ayahnya sendiri.

"There was a job we went for where we were auditioning to play my dad's three kids. They wanted three girls, and they picked my two sisters and not me," kenang Catherine Laga'aia.

Tim produksi memilih gadis lain karena menganggapnya kurang mirip dengan saudara-saudaranya.

"They were like, 'Sorry, you don't look enough like your sisters.' They cast another girl in that middle spot, and I remember that cut me deep," tambah Catherine Laga'aia.

Laga'aia mengakui bahwa ia adalah penyanyi paling tidak berpengalaman dibandingkan saudara-saudaranya.

"by far the worst singer," aku Catherine Laga'aia mengenai kemampuan vokalnya yang hanya diasah di paduan suara sekolah.

Kecemasan sempat melandanya saat harus menyanyikan lagu-lagu ikonik film tersebut.

"I thought they would just dub me with somebody else," kata Catherine Laga'aia.

Ia bahkan sempat menangis karena terkejut saat pertama kali mendengarkan rekaman suaranya sendiri.

"Now, I'm kind of OK with it," tutur Catherine Laga'aia yang menyamakan proses tersebut dengan terapi eksposur.

Auli'i Cravalho, pengisi suara animasi Moana tahun 2016 yang kini bertindak sebagai produser, memberikan dukungan penuh kepada Laga'aia.

"She's one of the main advocates to get more Pacific Islander faces, and more people of color, onto screens, and the fact that she was willing to go: 'You know what? This is an opportunity for somebody else to have that incredible experience and exposure,' and she was willing to take that step back and step into that [producing] role, I think that speaks to who she is," puji Catherine Laga'aia.

Berada jauh dari Australia dengan pengawasan minimal sempat membuat Laga'aia merasa terisolasi di Amerika Serikat.

"It was little things, like, I don't understand how the shopping mart works," keluh Catherine Laga'aia mengenai perbedaan budaya yang dihadapinya.

Ia kesulitan beradaptasi dengan hal-hal kecil seperti tempat menaruh kereta belanja dan jalur mengemudi yang berbeda.

"I don't know where to put my trolley. We drive on the other side of the road. It was having no sense of where I was and what I was doing, very similar to Moana being out on that boat." tutur Catherine Laga'aia.

Namun, proses syuting ini akhirnya menjadi perjalanan pembuktian diri bagi sang aktris muda.

"There many things where I was like, 'This is a hard boundary. I can't push past this,' " aku Catherine Laga'aia.

Berkat latihan dan dukungan dari lingkungan sekitar, ia mampu mendobrak keterbatasannya tersebut.

"But with time and practice, and a lot of positive reinforcement and support, I was like, 'You know what? I'll just push it a little bit. I'll push a little further. OK, I'm going to push a little harder,' until I was just kind of running through walls." pungkas Catherine Laga'aia.

Di sisi lain, posisi Laga'aia sebagai anak dari aktor terkenal membuatnya kerap mendapat label anak nepotisme.

"I'm completely aware that I'm a nepo baby," kata Catherine Laga'aia kepada The Hollywood Reporter.

Ia menanggapi label tersebut dengan santai dan mengakui privilese yang dimilikinya.

"I know that, so you can’t call me out on it because I already know it." cetus Catherine Laga'aia sambil tertawa.

Sang ayah, Jay Laga'aia, memberikan petuah penting bagi kelangsungan karier putrinya di Hollywood.

"One of my dad’s biggest pieces of advice is that your job is the audition," ungkap Catherine Laga'aia.

Nasihat tersebut menekankan agar ia selalu memberikan performa terbaik dalam setiap proses seleksi.

"Your job is not the job. You don’t have that yet. So your job is whatever sides they gave you and whatever song they want you to sing. So that mentality of coming in and being like, ‘I’m going to give this every ounce of effort that I’ve got, I’m going to give this every piece of myself to try and put the best foot forward,’ essentially." papar Catherine Laga'aia.

Sementara itu, dari lini musik, Lin-Manuel Miranda membagikan kisah emosionalnya saat menggarap lagu-lagu Moana versi animasi satu dekade lalu.

Dilansir dari People, pria berusia 46 tahun tersebut menulis lagu Moana di tengah tekanan besar saat membintangi teater musikal Hamilton di Broadway.

"It's not an accident those came so close together," kata Lin-Manuel Miranda saat pemutaran film di New York, 9 Juli 2026.

Proyek animasi Disney tersebut diakuinya telah menyelamatkan hidupnya dari stres dan tekanan popularitas.

"I was hired for Moana before Hamilton debuted. I wrote most of Moana in my dressing room at the Richard Rogers Theater. And so I think Moana saved my life." aku Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Tenggat waktu pengerjaan lagu Moana justru membantunya tetap membumi di tengah perhatian dunia.

"At a time when the world was putting a lot of attention on all of us, I think we all reacted to the pressure in different ways. I stayed grounded because I had songs due for Moana. I had to figure out how to get her beyond the reef." urai Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Tugas menulis lagu tersebut diakui Miranda berhasil menjaga kewarasan pikirannya.

"different" menulis tugas membuat dirinya tetap "humble" dan "sane" selama periode sibuk tersebut.

Meskipun tidak terlibat dalam Moana 2 karena proyek tersebut awalnya dikembangkan sebagai serial televisi, Miranda kembali untuk versi live-action ini.

"There was never an opportunity to be on Moana 2. That was a TV series that became a movie, and so they already had their songwriters," tutur Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Ia kembali dilibatkan setelah sutradara Hamilton, Thomas Kail, ditunjuk untuk mengarahkan proyek live-action Moana ini.

"Tommy and I are always working together, whether we're working on the same thing or not," jelas Lin-Manuel Miranda mengenai hubungannya dengan sang sutradara.

Kail mengusulkan ide untuk menyatukan vokal dari dua generasi pemeran Moana dalam sebuah lagu baru berjudul Along the Way.

"Tommy was like, you know, we're in a unique position in that two Moanas exist right now. And one of them is a producer on our film, and she's an incredibly talented adult." tiru Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Lagu baru tersebut akhirnya berhasil diciptakan Miranda hanya dalam waktu beberapa jam saja.

"There are two people in the world who know what it feels like to play Moana, and one can give advice and pass the torch to the other," tambah Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Proses kreatif berjalan sangat cepat setelah ia menemukan esensi dari kolaborasi antargenerasi tersebut.

"And I was like, 'Well, that's the song.' [I] hung up the phone, [and] had the verse and the chorus in a few hours." kata Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Mengenai kelanjutan proyek Moana 3 yang telah dikonfirmasi oleh Dwayne Johnson, Miranda berseloroh mendukung produksi sekuel tersebut hingga beberapa judul ke depan.

"I say go make 10 Moana movies. I want Moana 3 to be called Tokyo Drift. I want Moana Hobbs and Shaw.

I want The Fate of Moana. Bring it on," canda Lin-Manuel Miranda.