According to ScreenRant, director Emma Sullivan (After Tomorrow) and editor Tessa Verfuss (Blood & Water) of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece speak about the full extent of series creator Eiichiro Oda’s (Monsters) involvement in the making of the series. Sullivan and Verfuss had an exclusive with ScreenRant in which they shared Oda’s involvement in the series and stated that he had an “overarching presence” on the adaptation.
Sullivan said, “Only as much freedom as Oda gave us because everything went through Oda. For example, I had a scene where Kuina and young Zoro are fighting, and we shot that originally. Oda watched it, and he said, ‘I don’t want the Kendo masks on. I want it reshot.’ So, we went back to Cape Town, and we shot it again. It was better, and it was good. Everything went through him. It’s an incredibly creative IP, so you’re constantly trying to do it justice, and you find the most beautiful visual way to tell his stories. But at the same time you have to go within the parameters of show.”
Verfuss said, “And then, since Oda had this overarching presence over the whole thing, our team was all like, ‘Cool, we’re feeling like we’re in a good space. Let’s get his feedback, and do what we need to do to make him happy.’ Because, obviously, having his blessing is absolutely critical to delivering the show the way the fans want it done.”
Verfuss continued, “You’re certainly holding your breath a little bit specifically for that step. I’ve worked with Netflix before, so getting up to their level was par for the course; it’s just part of the process. You’re used to the rhythm of that, and having the studio give notes. But he has this much bigger presence and bigger personality, even knowing that he’s not a TV guy while we are TV people who make TV.”
Verfuss ended by saying, “He’s obviously been involved with anime, but this is his baby in a very different way. Some things might occur to us as a way of doing things, because this is how TV works, and he might have a comment that sort of throws that out the window. It’s like, ‘Okay, cool, let’s put a different hat on here and give this another go.’ If we need to find something else in the footage, look at doing some things a slightly different way, or do another pass for him, then we would.”
One Piece live-action will premiere on Netflix on August 31st.
Down below is a promotional post for the series counting down the final hours until premiere.