Live-Action LILO & STITCH Star ‘Can’t Wait’ for Movie to Come Out
By Movieguide® Contributor
The adorable star of the upcoming LILO & STITCH is ready to make her big screen debut!
“I am Maia Kealoha,” she said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly at the MOANA 2 premiere. “I am Lilo in the live-action LILO & STITCH. It’s gonna be so fun. I can’t wait for you guys to see it.”
She continued, “I would have to say, you have to be a big imaginator to realize, like, oh, maybe I should pretend that he [Stitch] is real, so I can be, like, yeah I got this! So, I’m gonna get another movie, and maybe there’s gonna be a donkey talking. We’re gonna be like, ‘That’s not real!’ And you gotta be like, ‘You gotta imaginate it!’”
Kealoha spoke to PEOPLE about the moment she found out she was cast in the project, saying, “My jaw literally dropped and I couldn’t even believe it. I rung my dad and I said, ‘I did it! I’m Lilo! I’m Lilo!’ And then they grabbed me and we jumped up and down. I was so excited!”
In an Instagram post from her mother, Brittney Kealoha, they celebrated her casting.
“It’s been exactly 2 months since we received the news that would change Maia’s @maiakealoha life forever,” the post reads. “We are so grateful to everyone who helped us get here from the casting team at Ohana Casting, casting director @castingthe808 Rachel Sutton, director Dean Fleischer Camp, and all of the incredible producers and team at Rideback and Walt Disney Studios. Mahalo, mahalo, mahalo!”
LILO & STITCH is a live-action remake of the wildly popular animated movie of the same name.
READ MORE: LILO & STITCH REVIEW
LILO & STITCH will premiere in theaters May 23, 2025. In addition to Kealoha, the movie’s cast includes Zach Galifianakis, Chris Sanders and Sydney Elizabeth Agudong.
READ MORE: LIVE-ACTION REMAKE OF LILO & STITCH TO HIT THE BIG SCREEN
