If David Bowie and The Little Mermaid's Sebastian had a baby, it would look like Tamatoa, the magical hermit crab in Disney's new movie, Moana. The colossal crab's shell is caked with "trinkets, goblets, gold, gems," and the like, in order to attract unsuspecting fish. So who plays the Tamatoa in Disney's Moana? I'll give you a hint. The villainous crustaceous creature in the film is pretty much an evil crab version of the feathered antagonist, Nigel, from Rio.
If the sassy and sinister vibe from Tamatoa felt similar to Nigel, then you guessed right. The two characters are actually voiced by the same actor, Jemaine Clement. In an interview with Walt Disney Animation Studios, Clement took on the role fully by playfully hoarding food surrounding him just like Tamatoa accumulates shiny objects and jewels in the film. "He's kind of a collector of things," Clement says while acting out his character as he hides a coffee cup in his jacket. "Spelled my name wrong," he slyly lies while ripping Dwayne Johnson's name off a fruit basket.
In the film, the 50-foot tall Tamatoa faces off with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's character Maui in Lalotai, the realm of the monsters. The two have a history of feuding as documented by one of Maui's back tattoos.
“In fact, Tamatoa is in possession of Maui's valuable fish hook, which he desperately wants back,” John Musker, co-director of Moana, told USA Today.
Tamatoa's schemes would certainly make him worthy of being a pet of Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Perhaps that's what dream team directors Ron Clements and John Musker had in mind when designing him since they were the masterminds behind The Little Mermaid, after all. The criminal crab has "a deadpan sense of humor" and "'some very quirky, funny Jermaine-isms." You can spot said Jermaine-isms in the kleptomaniac's song, "Shiny." It looks like Musker and fellow director Clements borrowed the bioluminescent aesthetic from the deepest sea level found in Finding Nemo.
When you watch Moana for yourself on Nov. 23, make sure to stay after the credits for an extra snippet with the gold-digging crab! You can't miss this dig.
Tamatoa the Crab from Moana was voiced by Jemaine Clement.
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Jemaine Clement, a New Zealand actor, musician, singer, comedian, director, and writer, does the voice of Tamatoa the crab in the movie Moana.
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Jemaine Clement has channelled David Bowie once again, this time, for his latest character as a crab in Moana.
In the South Pacific-set, Disney film penned by Taika Waititi, Clement lends his voice to the character Tamatoa, a self-absorbed and greedy monster crab.
But when he signed on to the role, he didn't know that the film's music composer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, had Thin White Duke plans for Clement up his sleeve.
Jemaine Clement is said to have channelled his inner David Bowie to bring his latest Disney character,a crab in Moana, to life.
The film features several big numbers including Shiny, sung by Tamatoa/Clement, which draws on Clement's Bowie imression.
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"That was Lin's idea," Clement told Yahoo Movies.
A reo Māori version of Disney animation Moana is now available to stream on Disney+.
"If you hear Lin's demo [of Shiny], which is on the soundtrack, you can tell that he's doing an impression of my impression of David Bowie."
Clement's most well-known channelling of Bowie is in a 2007 Flight of the Conchords episode.
In the skit, Bret McKenzie finds himself dealing with a series of body image issues, before he is visited in the middle of the night by a ghostly figure (Clement) claiming to be various versions of David Bowie, through the ages.
Flight of the Conchords' Bowie tribute: pretty far out.
Miranda, a fellow Bowie fan who has says Shiny is his favourite song on the Moana soundtrack, said he wrote it specifically for Clement.
Clement is no stranger to voicing villains in kids' movies, such as a cockatoo in Rio and a giant in The BFG.
He says Tamatoa is not "totally evil" and that there was a lot of comedic improvisation involved in devising the character.
He also told Yahoo he was excited for his eight-year-old son to see his performance in the movie.
"He's a little offended at this point," Clement said. "Like, 'You're not bad, Dad! Why are you always a bad guy?' I'm not sure what to tell him about that!"
Moana hits New Zealand cinemas on December 26.
Kiwi actor and comedian, Jemaine Clement, has been best known for his work in folk-comedy duo 'Flight of the Conchords', and for acting in the film 'What We Do in the Shadows'.
But to be recognised in for his work in 'Moana' - that's a bit more difficult.
Jemaine Clement joined Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show and shared how no one points him out for his role as the voice of Tamatoa, "Because I don’t look like a crab, they don’t really know.”
He recalled one instance where he appeared at the American festival ComicCon to promote his upcoming mockumentary, What We Do in the Shadows, and how he stumbled upon two people dressed as Maui (Dwayne Johnson's Moana character) and the island goddess Te Fiti.
“I thought, I’m gonna give these guys a bit of a thrill,” he said. “They were taking a selfie and I just slid in there.”
He went on to say that they gave him a confused look, and he had to explain that he’s the voice of Tamatoa. “And they were like, ‘You mean, you can do an impression?’”
So in the end, these two 'Moana' fans had no idea how famous the photobomber was in their selfie shot...
Check out Jemaine Clement perform as Tamatoa in the movie 'Moana' below: