Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy has been cast as rubber band hero Luffy in the live-action adaptation of One Piece. A role tailor-made for him.
In a week from now, Netflix subscribers will be able to discover on their screen the live action adaptation of One Piece, the best-selling manga in the world. It is an understatement to say if the platform is expected at the turn with this particularly expensive production. But if there is one thing that seems to have made everyone agree so far, it is the choice of actors. With in the front line, the young Iñaki Godoy, who interprets the hero Luffy.
Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka behind One Piece, has drawn from various cultures to come and water his universe. Thus, its main heroes come from different nationalities. In his previous interviews, the Japanese author notably revealed that if Luffy really existed, he would be Brazilian. This is not the case of actor Iñaki Godoy, who is Mexican (two countries not so far apart), but who shares other points in common with the elastic hero: his smile and his good humor.
“In Mexican culture, we love to party and take care of our family. It’s something that has influenced me for my whole life and has influenced the way I interpret the character“, he told us during the TUDUM event in Brazil last June.
From the top of his 19 years (the age of Luffy at the beginning of the manga) at the time of filming, the young boy devoured the first volumes of One Piece after being chosen. But when he auditions for Netflix, he doesn’t know as he is trying out to play Luffy:
“The project had a code name so I didn’t know what series it was. I only had the character description: a happy boy, always smiling, positive and a born leader. My mother read that and said to me “Iñaki, you are going to have this role. That’s exactly you when you were 11!”. The magic seems to have worked. On the set, the actor admits to having kept a photo of him at 11 in his pocket in order to “remember how I was when I thought anything was possible.”
His overflowing energy (as evidenced by the video above), his positive attitude and his smile also charmed Eiichiro Oda, whom he had the chance to meet before filming. In this open letter, the mangaka said he was very satisfied with the choice of actor and that certain lines would not have worked without the successful interpretation of Iñaki.
To prepare as well as possible, the young actor embarked on an unprecedented adventure for him in February: a two-month trip on a boat around the Caribbean to put himself in the shoes of a sailor. He notably learned to navigate like Nami, to cook like Sanji and to be part of a team… while having fun like Luffy.
The latter will now have to convince Netflix subscribers on August 31 in the live action adaptation of One Piece.