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If interviewing Dwayne Johnson wasn’t exciting enough…. I just got to interview the hottest song writer, Lin Manuel-Miranda. I had not really followed the Broadway play Hamilton before but hearing that I was going to meet lin-manuel Miranda made me get on YouTube and listen to the whole soundtrack right away. I was blown away, it was amazing and had such a unique quality that just speaks to your soul.
Now that I have listened to the soundtrack of Hamilton and become a Super Fan girl and listen to the whole soundtrack of Moana I could definitely say I have a musical crush on him!! He was definitely personable and charismatic when he walked into the room.
When asked the first question – What is it like to be a part of the Disney family now? I loved his response “It’s pretty dope” just confirms how amazing and laid back he was. He went on to share how he felt during the planning process.
“I mean, from the first moment, I think the most exciting part, for a Disney geek like me, was the story meetings. You know, I’ve had a little Hollywood experience, and there’s nothing like the Disney story experience. You sit at a table, a lot like this, except it’s perfectly round, and, the notes are not from execs, the notes are from Jen Lee, the co-director of Frozen, from Pete Docter, who’s working on Inside Out, and did Big Hero 6.”
We all wanted to know about the timeline in which Moana and Hamilton took place…. and it was actually side by side.
He shared with us the day he got the job and why it was the most special day ever.
This is the weird day that changed my life. I woke up, one Wednesday, and my wife’s a lawyer, she was off to get on a plane, to go to a business meeting somewhere else, and she said, I think you might be a father. I have to go to the airport. It was like, six in the morning, and I was like, that’s great — what? Um, I called her at noon once her flight landed, to confirm that I hadn’t dreamt the thing she told me, and then I got the offer — ‘cause I interviewed for the job. I got the Moana offer that afternoon and then that offer came with a plane ticket to New Zealand, where the rest of the creative team was already doing music research at this specific, music conference, in New Zealand. So I went to, you know, I didn’t see my wife, and then I got on a plane to New Zealand, and I’m sitting with this secret that we’re five weeks pregnant.
We all were so touched by that story and felt his joy as if we were reliving the moment again with him,
that was two years and seven months ago. You can really tell how special being a father is to him.
He seemed to feel so comfortable being in the room talking with us and even made us feel so special by saying he wanted to take a picture of us and posted to his Twitter account that was pretty exciting.
When asked what his favorite song on the Moana soundtrack, he responded “I’m, really proud of How Far I’ll Go. I literally locked myself up in my childhood bedroom at my parents’ house, to write those lyrics.” I personally loved the message of “How Far I’ll Go” he explains the emotion and feelings he had behind the lyrics.
“It’s not, I hate it here, I want to be out there. It’s not, there must be more than this provincial life. She loves her island, she loves her parents, she loves her people. And there’s still this voice inside. I think, finding that notion of, listening to that little voice inside you, and being who you are”.
I am so excited for his next journey Mary Poppins is his next on his list and if it is anything link his other successes… it is going to be superb!
Make sure you mark you calendar for November 23rd
and watch Moana on the big screen!
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Visit the official MOANA website HERE
Disclosure : I was invited onto this all expense paid press trip to share with you my Moana experience. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
