Moana 2 Director Dana Ledoux Miller Interview

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In earlier interviews, you’ve spoken about how rising up as a blended Samoan girl in California, away from most of your loved ones, impacted your confidence. As a fellow blended Samoan girl who grew up the identical manner, I used to be questioning the place you discovered that confidence to have the ability to write and direct these films as a result of I believe typically we really feel like, “Oh no, I am not Samoan sufficient.”

That may be a sentence I’m very aware of: “I am not Samoan sufficient.” Half my dad’s household lived in Northern California — I am in Southern California — or again in Samoa, and so there was actually a disconnect. A part of that actually was due to my dad, too, and him coping with a few of his personal id points as I used to be rising up. And so, I felt a variety of insecurity about that. I might say being Samoan is at all times one thing I have been actually pleased with, however it’s one thing I at all times talked about with caveats, to attempt to make different folks really feel higher about it, but in addition to make myself really feel higher. Like, “I am Samoan, however yeah, I do know I do not look so Samoan,” to make it really feel okay for everyone else. I am not joking, I used to have an image of my grandparents in my bag after I was actually younger.

BuzzFeed: So you could possibly whip it out as proof?

Yeah, as if I wanted it! No person’s even asking me for proof. However I felt so insecure about it. I do not know that I am a fully-recovered insecure afakasi [mixed Samoan] girl, however I’ve come a good distance. Even taking the job on the Moana live-action, which was my first Moana venture, my first thought after getting that job was: “Am I Samoan sufficient? Is our group going to be upset that I am the particular person doing this? Will they assume I am not sufficient to do that?” And it was very daunting. I used to be so excited as a result of I really like Moana, and I felt like I could not imagine I get to be part of telling her story. However it’s been a course of to take possession of even simply having the ability to be say, “I am Samoan. I am not gonna clarify to you what meaning as a result of it is none of your enterprise, and I do know who I’m.” That I might say has been a two-year course of. It is nonetheless new to me. It is nonetheless contemporary.

However a part of that’s as a result of I took some possibilities I wasn’t able to take. I took the job on the live-action movie although I felt that insecurity. I began PEAK [Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti] after I was like, “Am I sufficient to do that? Am I the correct particular person?” I additionally had a Pacific Islander writers room for this small present that did not find yourself going, and I set to work with Pacific Islanders in a room, creating, for the primary time. All of these items got here collectively directly, and I began to really feel like I used to be part of an even bigger group. And it wasn’t a group that was asking me to qualify myself however of different individuals who felt very equally. We have been coming collectively, and we have been one another, and we’re like, “Oh, I see you. I see you. I see you.” And since we have been seeing ourselves in one another, it gave me extra confidence to be daring about taking possession of who I’m. It has been a journey, however I’m proud to be Samoan.