Skip to content 
Inaki Godoy, the actor who plays Monkey D. Luffy in the Netflix’s One Piece Live Action, visited Tokyo and especially mangaka Eiichiro Oda’s studio in order to meet with him.
A video of his meeting with Oda was put out on YouTube and Twitter by Netflix.
During this meet, Oda talked about how it the advancement of CGI and VFX made it possible for a series like One Piece to get a live action adaptation in the current day. Something like this wouldn’t have been possible back when the manga released.
“Back then, 26 years ago, when I started One Piece, it wasn’t possible to adapt a manga like this into live action. But, at a certain point in time, the quality of CG and VFX really started to improve, and you could bring anything to life. After seeing many such things, I decided to take the plunge, figuring that if we find a reliable team, we could pull this off and adapt it into a live-action,” Oda said in the video.
Oda also said how Godoy was the perfect person to play the role of Luffy, and that the actor was able to make him laugh during the auditions.
“My biggest worry about the One Piece Live Action adaptation was whether we would be able to find someone like Luffy. I watched a lot of various auditions and when I found Iñaki, I laughed. He was just like the person I drew in my manga. I intuitively thought, ‘That’s Luffy’,” Oda said.
The author later added that he felt grateful that Godoy was born just to be like Luffy.
“I think your energy as Luffy is going to be contagious,” the author said.
Godoy also presented Oda with a drawing of Luffy that he made and a note thanking Oda for creating One Piece and making many people around the world happy. Godoy added that playing Luffy was a dream come true for him and that he would do his best to bring him to live action.
However, the crowning moment of the meeting between the two came when Oda put a Straw Hat on Inaki Godoy. It was reminiscent of how Shanks put a Straw Hat on Luffy back in chapter 1 of the manga and was a moment that would have found a place in the heart of all One Piece lovers.
Godoy was previously bestowed with a straw hat by Luffy’s Japanese voice actor, Mayumi Tanaka, earlier this month.
One Piece live-action will release on Aug 31, 2023, exclusively on Netflix. Oda is serving as an executive producer for the series.
The One Piece live-action cast includes Iñaki Godoy, who portrays Monkey D. Luffy, Emily Rudd as Nami, Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar will play Sanji. Colton Osorio will portray a young Luffy.
Furthermore, Peter Gadiot will play Shanks, Morgan Davies as Koby, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Alvida, Aidan Scott as Helmeppo, Jeff Ward as Buggy, McKinley Belcher III as Arlong, and Vincent Regan as Garp.
The other cast members include:
- Alexander Maniatis as Klahadore
- Steven Ward as Mihawk
- Craig Fairbrass as Chef Zeff
- Langley Kirkwood as Captain Morgan
- Celeste Loots as Kaya
- Chioma Umeala as Nojiko
It was previously revealed that the original Japanese voice actors will be returning to portray their characters for the Japanese dub of the live-action adaptation
The live-action will be adapting the East-Blue Saga from the One Piece manga and then “broaden from there”. Matt Owens will serve as the upcoming show’s writer, while Steven Maeda and Becky Clements will be executive producers along with Eiichiro Oda.
The soundtrack for the live action, titled “Wealth, Fame, Power,” is composed by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli, best known for their work on “The Witcher“.
Netflix will exclusively stream the series, produced by Tomorrow Studios, a partnership between producer Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios.
The live action adaptation was under production in South Africa since Feb 1, 2022.
