One Piece: How Nami’s Translator (Emily Rudy) Convinced Netflix To Pick Her Up

Among the main cast of One Piece, Emily Rudd and McKenna are probably the biggest fans of the manga. If the latter always dreamed of playing Zoro on the screen, the young woman explained more than once that Nami was her favorite character in the entire universe. So when he learned that Netflix was making a live-action adaptation, the American actor backed the odds, we can read in the press kit:

“I implemented a strategy to convince myself to be chosen for 3 years. I dyed my hair red and cut it like Nami. I also put videos of me when I was younger, like doing somersaults and somersaults. I really did. My best Nami, when I was chosen, I thought, how lucky i am“.

Her intense lobbying worked well, because if showrunner Steven Maeda is to be believed, he immediately knew it was her when he saw her audition tape that she sent during COVID.

Just like McKenney, who knew how to master a katana before filming One Piece, Emily Rudd didn’t really need training to pull off Nami’s stunts in Season 1: The young woman is a black belt in karate. In particular, he knew how to handle the stick that the young navigator used as a weapon of war.

His knowledge of the universe and the character of Nami, who is central to Arlong’s arc, have made him a One Piece favorite on Netflix. Thanks to this role, Emily Rudd especially had the chance to meet the creator of the manga, Eiichiro Oda, as well as Inaki Godoi (Luff). The mangaka, who no longer shows his face, lives almost as a renegade so that he can write the adventures of the Straw Hat crew. Therefore, few had the opportunity to talk to him.

While the young actor didn’t want to tell us what was said in this interview when we caught up with him last June, he was excited and saddened to have the opportunity to exchange with the mangaka.