One of the most essential cast in Netflix’s One Piece was Emily Rudd as Nami. They really wanted someone with enough depth to play the character, according to one of the show’s directors.
Netflix doesn’t have a good reputation when it comes to adapting anime from source materials but with the One Piece live-action, the norm has finally been overcome. The fan-loved series performed exceptionally on the platform and even secured one of the top 10 shows for several weeks. One of the biggest reasons for the live-action to turn out so well was the excellent cast. It consisted of Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, Mackenyu as Zoro, Taz Skylar as Sanji, and Jacob Romero as Usopp.
What did One Piece’s director say regarding casting Emily Rudd as Nami?
Marc Jobst, the director of One Piece, opened up about just how crucial it was to cast Nami for Netflix’s live-action. In an interview with Screen Rant, the director expressed his admiration for Emily Rudd’s take on the iconic character and said,
“The other lovely thing about Emily is she’s beautiful, obviously, and Nami is a beautiful character, but she has so much depth to her being. We were really keen that all our actors weren’t just beautiful, we weren’t really after that, we were after beautiful spirits.”
He continues that the “depth” was something “you can’t create on the screen,” instead “the screen knows when it’s there.” He emphasized on the part as to why it was “really important” for them to “cast somebody who has depth to them,” for the role of Nami. This was a significant aspect of her role that Jobst couldn’t have compromised at any cost.
Why was Emily Rudd the perfect actress for portraying Nami?
Emily Rudd has been a huge fan of One Piece herself. Out of everyone else, she was the person who knew what to bring to the table with Nami’s role. It was evident that Rudd cared about the role. She also addressed in an interview how she was nervous and excited at the same time regarding certain arcs of the story to see them in the show.
While casting her as Nami, Rudd’s depth was taken into consideration, which was necessary to keep the authenticity of the character. Some people might not consider Nami as an important character but she actually played a crucial role in some of the most integral parts of the One Piece story.
