The One Piece Live Action is currently ranked number 1 in Netflix’s Global Top 10 English TV List, garnering 18.5 million views in just four days of release.

The series has also reached the Top 10 in 93 countries, and even debuted at number 1 in 46 countries, including Malaysia.

To celebrate this feat, Netflix had shared details on some behind the scenes information as to how the cast of the One Piece Live Action get into their roles. Additionally, a “Behind the Stunts” featturete was released, giving fans an insider’s look into how the cast trained for the live action stunt sequences.

Iñaki Godoy

Godoy plays the larger-than-life and optimistic Monkey D. Luffy, the self-appointed leader of the Straw Hats Crew.

“When I was auditioning for the role, it didn’t say it was for ONE PIECE or that the character was Luffy. Everything had a code name so you wouldn’t be able to tell which show it was. But the character description said it was a cheerful guy, always has a smile on his face, super positive, and a great leader and my mom was like, ‘Iñaki, you’re going to get this role. This is you when you were 11-years-old. It’s exactly you.’ I was like, yeah right. We’ll see.”

As a fun fact, Godoy carries around a photo of himself as an 11 year old while on set. This was what Godoy used to remind himself what it was like to be in that time of his life where he felt like he could do anything.

Mackenyu

Mackenyu plays Roronoa Zoro, the deadly pirate hunter who’s on a mission to fulfill a promise to become the world’s greatest swordsman.

“I was born in 1996, so ONE PIECE has been around for my entire life. It’s a massive part of my life and something that’s always been there. If you’re Japanese, it’s impossible not to know about it, and for me, it’s impossible not to idolize a character like Zoro. I didn’t know which character I was auditioning for when they were casting this series because everything had a code name, but I knew if it wasn’t for Zoro, I didn’t want to audition at all.”

Mackenyu did not dye all of his hair green to match Zoro’s iconic look. He only paints the bottom half of his hair on shoot days while the top half was a wig. However, he did get three piercings in his left ear so that he could wear Zoro’s signature trio of gold earrings.

Emily Rudd

Emily plays the quick-witted cartographer with a penchant for thievery, Nami who dreams of mapping the whole world, but has a tragic history that keeps her tied to her past.

“ONE PIECE is one of my favorite manga and I’ve always felt drawn to Nami in particular. When I heard they were making a live action series, I started not-so-secretly playing the long game in lobbying for this role for three years. I colored my hair red and got it cut just like Nami’s. I posted a video of myself when I was younger tumbling and doing back- flips, things like that…I was just trying my hardest to get anyone who might notice to really see me as Nami. So, to audition finally, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I did it! I can’t believe I did it. What timeline am I in? How did I get so lucky?’ It was crazy. I got to work my dream job.”

As a fun fact, Emily Rudd has a black belt in karate and knew how to handle a Bo Staff, which is Nami’s weapon of choice, prior to beginning her stun training regimen for the series.

Jacob Romero

Romero plays as Usopp, the most emotional member of the crew and approaches the world with childlike wonder and dreams of becoming a great warrior of the sea.

“The description for the part was pretty vague. I think it said ‘a group of teenagers come together to be pirates on a ship,’ but you weren’t even sure what kind of ship it was. It could’ve been a spaceship for all I knew. But I did know it was shooting in South Africa and it was going to be a big, epic adventure and to be a person of color in something like that, I thought, ‘All right. Now we’re onto something.”

Romeo surreptitiously took home Usopp’s version of the Going Merry’s Jolly Roger.

Taz Skylar

Taz plays as the passionate and honorable Sanji, the charming and witty hothead chef of the crew and dreams of finding the All Blue, which is said to be the only place in the world where fish from all Four Seas can be found.

“I went as all-out as I could in my audition tape, but there wasn’t any kicking required in the choreography they gave us, so when I actually got the part, I truly underestimated what that was going to take. I had to learn everything from the ground up starting from the basics, like what a front kick looked like, or what a side kick looked like. We didn’t even get into the spinning until two days in, and that was a trip! Learning how to spin is hard! But it became evident how inflexible I was. I’ve been running, surfing, and jumping out of planes my whole life, but I couldn’t get my leg above waist-level. So…I went into full psycho-mode. About four months before filming, I was doing a play at the Young Vic and I’d get about two hours of training in everyday day on top of rehearsals and I’d have inflatable kickbacks in the dressing room, backstage, just everywhere, dotted around the theater. And whenever I had a free moment, I’d practice kicking.”

“I got to Cape Town a month before filming officially started and I began training with the stunt team, and we ended up needing to bring in extra hands to help with my flexibility. They brought in a Taekwondo specialist, who’s now one of my best friends, and an MMA fighter I had trained with originally back in London. We’d be working until 7 or 8 PM, tying belts around my legs with someone pulling on the other side, or stretching in a sauna. It was such a gradual, painstaking process – my legs felt like they were hanging on by a thread at one point – but we did it. There’s a certain point where you’re like, ‘There’s no turning back now, bro. You’ve come this far. Let’s go till the wheels fall off. Let’s just commit.’”

At the time, Taz Skylar had jumped out of a plane a total of 316 times. He’s an avid surfer and overall extreme sports enthusiast. He completed an ultra marathon in Cape Town on New Year’s Day 2022, two days before filming on One Piece resumed after a holiday break.

For more information, do check out the One Piece Live Action official website here.