One of the directors of Netflix’s One Piece talks about the emotional arc of Nami in the live-action. In an exclusive interview, she delves into the impact of a certain character on Nami’s role. Nami is played by Emily Rudd, along with Iñaki Godoy and Mackenyu playing the roles of Luffy and Zoro respectively.
Netflix’s adaptation was released at the end of August 2023 and became a huge success. Being dubbed as one of the greatest live actions of anime to be ever created, the cast of the show really dropped a masterpiece.
How did Kaya help in softening Nami’s character in One Piece?
Emma Sullivan directed some of the episodes for Netflix’s One Piece, and she spoke in an interview with the Digital Spy about Emily Rudd’s Nami, precisely her juxtaposing feelings, noting it is “a difficult job to kind of play”.
“It’s the subtext. Emily’s good at subtext,” she said. “There’s always something going on in her eyes. She’s a really good actress. She can’t do too much because you don’t want to give anything away. But she’s always got to be thinking about something else.”
She further talks about how it is very clear on the camera when the actors are thinking something. “So as long as they’re thinking something, you can pick up this sense of conflict in a character.”
She also elaborated on Nami’s interactions with Kaya and said how it helped to soften Nami’s character, “What was lovely as well with Emily and Kaya – and we all sat down and went, ‘Oh, we’re passing the Bechdel Test here, aren’t we ladies?'”
Nami meets with Kaya, and she is relatively gentle with her as she provides her with enough space to relax and bond with her. She’s like, “You can relax, you can be friends with me, and you can trust me.”
Sullivan believed it was a “really nice arc for Emily to trace,” and said it’s always a positive aspect for actors to go through an arc and change. As for Emily Rudd’s Nami, “softening through those scenes,” was surely a pleasure.
Who is Kaya in Netflix’s One Piece?
Kaya was played by Celeste Loots, a South African actor in Netflix’s One Piece. The actress has worked on series like Home Affairs: A Christmas Tale in 2020 and its sequel.
In the Syrup Village arc of One Piece, Luffy, along with Zoro and Nami, searches for a perfect ship to align with their journey and comes across a boy named Usopp. They mistake him for a ship seller, but the matter of fact is that Kaya is the owner of the massive shipyard. Usopp and Kaya were close, and she was his potential love interest. Being a simple and straightforward girl, she invites the group to her 18th birthday.
