After winning the hearts of millions with the manga, One Piece has now fully captured the love and attention of audiences worldwide with its remarkable Netflix live-action remake as well. However, as easy as it is to adore and commend the on-screen characters and actors playing them, it is equally difficult to cast the perfect actor for the role.
This problem was faced immensely by the live-action version’s showrunner Matt Owens and director Marc Jobst. As it turns out, not Nami or Arlong but rather Monkey D. Luffy and Straw Hats Pirate Roronoa Zoro were the most difficult to cast for the showrunner and director.
Casting Roronoa Zoro In Netflix’s One Piece Wasn’t An Easy Job
The live-action adaptation of the One Piece manga by Netflix is being widely loved and commended by fans worldwide, and a major part of this success goes to the perfect casting for the characters. Sharing how they chose the best actors for the characters, director Marc Jobst told Screen Rant:
“We wanted actors that had heart, that had warmth, and that we could build together, that we feel there’s going to be some kind of chemistry because that’s magic. That’s not something that, you know, no matter how good the scripts are, it doesn’t matter how good the sets are, doesn’t matter how good a director I am, if you haven’t got that, you can’t create it.”
During another interview, showrunner Matt Owens let out how difficult it was to find the right actor to play the Straw Hat swordsman Roronoa Zoro (via ComicBook.com):
“Casting Zoro was as difficult as Luffy, we had a very specific checklist that we needed. Mackenyu checked all of those boxes & then some. He works really hard, especially with his stunt work. He took it very seriously and it shows.”
Since Mackenyu had a thoroughly prolific acting career and had even played quite some anime characters in some live-action versions of manga, he truly threw himself into the role while playing Zoro, thus resulting in an insanely tremendous performance.
Monkey D. Luffy Was An Equally Difficult Casting For The Live-Action One Piece
Continuing in the interview with Screen Rant, director Marc Jobst explained why casting Monkey D. Luffy was incredibly hard for them:
“Luffy is the hardest character to cast, because he carries the whole show, and he is the driver of positivity. He believes in having dreams, he believes in believing in yourself, he inspires people to be themselves, to be more of themselves, he wants to help them become more of themselves.”
Thus, when Iñaki Godoy showed up in front of them, they knew right away he was the perfect casting for the role.
“When Kiki came in, when Iñaki came in, we just knew, partly because he made us all laugh in his audition. He did something crazy, and off-script, very deliberately, and it was like, ‘Oh, okay, he’s got some cheek and some charm, and some chutzpah to him.’ That’s kind of Luffy, and the reason why I say he’s the hardest to cast is because that positivity can get quite irritating in film, and he never did, I don’t feel. He just emanated warmth and goodwill.”
