Tag: One Piece

Due to studios not paying their writers and actors, the WGA and SAG strike left its scars on many productions that were slowly wrapping up. Yet, some still managed to work their way towards a release, such as the big release of One Piece in August. We didn’t know just how hard the live-action adaptation was affected by the strikes.

In an interview with Deadline after the WGA deal had finally been made, showrunner Matt Owens was finally able to talk about the show and also offered some insight into how it affected his work on the project. As it turns out, he was not able to truly finish the project but was “very close” to a final version. As such, most of the team had to carry on with the work while Eiichiro Oda was still supervising the project.

We were very close. I had just gotten to Tokyo to meet with Oda again in April and have conversations with him about where the cuts were, some things that he wanted to see. So we were back in post when the strike hit. We were picture-locked on most things, there was still a lot of visual effects, final music; it was mostly finals. I’d seen stages of the majority of it, which was another heartbreaking thing about it — I didn’t get to finish the show. But luckily, my post-production team, the effects team, they know me, and they know the show. So for having to step away, I still felt like the show was in the best possible hands. And Oda was still involved, even though we were not communicating about the show.

Matt Owens

That is a shame but also highlights just how much love from everyone involved was poured into this series, as the lack of an active showrunner could’ve shown its fangs in other ways. The praise to the team working on the show is definitely a good sign of how far they managed to carry on even without Owens actively being able to be involved while supporting fair wages in the industry. Though, he also had some fun getting to see how some things turned out once the final reveal came.

It was exciting because I had never seen the final final cuts of this show until the rest of the world did, so I did feel like there were some little surprises for me to discover, Oh, that’s how that turned out, that’s f*cking great, things like that.

Matt Owens

Here’s hoping that going into the second season, the production will be able to be part of the full journey this time around. That makes the renewal even sweeter, as it gives him the chance to fully be part of the process he started and what he invested five years of his life according to the interview.

Source: Deadline

There have been many discussions ahead of the release of Season 1 of One Piece. The live-action adaptation was initially set to have ten episodes; something we hinted wouldn’t stay as initially announced by Oda before the pandemic. Still, it was later revealed to only consist of eight episodes, an internal mandate from Netflix, and nothing towards the actual series at the time.

So, many wondered if we would even get to truly visit all East Blue islands, and once the series was released, we sadly only got a brief glimpse at Loguetown in the first episode. Still, they managed to tie the series’ main themes throughout without the necessity of the town that is named prologue and epilogue. In a Reddit AMA, showrunner Matt Owens confirmed that the reason it wasn’t included was due to the episode reduction.

Skipped? Never! It wasn’t included in season 1 because our episode number got reduced. And to try to cram it in would not have done service to it or the story it had to share space with. Loguetown is not “cut” we just haven’t gotten there yet!

Matt Owens

It’s not too surprising and it is a shame that they didn’t get to keep their initial plans for the episode structure. There are some small elements where one can tell they likely adapted the pacing from that initial pitch but it manages to pull it all together in creative ways. Plus, the tease in the first post-credit sequence hints at a perfect set-up with Loguetown introducing Smoker as a major antagonist going into the new season.

Source: Reddit

It must’ve been a wild journey for showrunner Matt Owens. Starting off as a massive fan of One Piece, he went on to work closely with Eiichiro Oda, the man who created the iconic seafaring adventure, to bring it to live-action. Plus, he got the chance to explore ideas and concepts that were never fully realized in the original series but simply hinted at. One of those is the iconic battle between Mr. 7 and Zoro, which kicks off the character’s introduction in the live-action and sets up a second season.

In an Instagram post, the showrunner shared that the appearance of Baroque Works was one of the first ideas he pitched Oda as a way to introduce the character of Zoro before we arrive in Shells Town while also adding something that is canon but was never actually shown in the material. He jokingly shares that even Oda had to ask his editor about it and was greeted with a full drawing of the character the next day, which was the first time he got an actual design besides a doodle from his SPS section.

The design was also carried over into the live-action adaptation and gave us our first glimpse at what is to come beyond the East Blue. It also marked Oda being impressed by his knowledge of the series and its world which was just the first discussion he had with the creator, who even calls “a friend” in the post. There have been many hints that he has grown close with many involved in the production, which will hopefully also mark a stronger bond going into the second season.

Source: Instagram

If it comes to filmmaking technology that had the biggest 180 public opinion, the Volume swiftly lost its standing after seemingly being a necessary tool during the pandemic. The idea is simple: you have LED screens built around that enable actors to interact with elements rather than just using a blank screen of various colors. The Mandalorian revolutionized technology, but its overuse in a lot of major films led to the internet changing its opinion on the tech quite hastily.

So, it was quite refreshing when One Piece hit Netflix and one of its biggest selling points was that it built pretty much most of its relevant sets. They also filmed in South Africa on water to make sure that the sea-faring adventure actually took place on the water. It seems a big reason for that is director Marc Jobst according to cinematographer Nicole Hirsch Whitaker in an interview with The Direct.

My director comes from the theater. So I think he was very much against that type of filmmaking for a show like this. He really felt like it was important for the actors to be in a real environment. Even when we shot [the] Gold Roger [sequence], even though that was a lot of blue screen, he took us to a real location and we shot in a castle so that they were surrounded by the walls and that they felt like they were in a space

Nicole Hirsch Whitaker

Of course, the use of blue screen still remains but most of the elements our cast interacts with are practical. So, the screens are simply there to help make the world feel real and ensure that the limitations of filming on a water stage don’t include the freeway from he background when the cast is supposed to be on the open seas. Whitaker also goes on to highlight that the story and use of daylight supported what they wanted to achieve with he series.

Some people might say that that’s not something that will happen in the future, but I do think if actors fight for that, as opposed to being in a room. And listen, the Volume is incredible, it’s amazing and it’s a wonderful tool. And it’s it’s really important because we have to embrace it for so many reasons. But I think for this show, a story about family and being out in the world with a lot of exteriors and a lot of daylight, I think this was the right way to go.

Nicole Hirsch Whitaker

There’ll likely be a point when the Volume gets a new time to shine with more additional support rather than being the main way the film. We don’t know if future use will remain but it seems safe to say that One Piece is going to remain focused on utilizing real sets moving forward, as it was one of the series’ biggest selling points. Season 2 also featured a variety of environments that’ll give them fun opportunities to establish a variety of fun environments for the cast to interact with.

Source: The Direct

This news actually broke earlier in the month. However, given that the WGA strike was still active and its successful resolution had a higher priority, now that a deal has finally been made and SGA is on the horizon to get one, it seems like the right time to cover the story. Randy Troy, who is a long-time One Piece content creator, and has worked in the industry as an actor and writer, has joined the writer’s room for the second season of Netflix’s live-action adaptation.

The official announcement was made a few weeks ago on Twitter during the WGA strike that he is involved but was focused on ensuring the strike was a success. We know that the scrips are supposedly ready according to a producer of the One Piece series, which means he was likely already involved before the strike happened as they were preparing the script ahead of Season 1’s launch. While they didn’t know at the time they would be getting a renewal, it definitely was to keep everything going to ensure they can avoid a large gap between seasons’ release.

It also marks the second time that a content creator who has heavily joined the series’ long history gained a role as part of the live-action production. The first season also involved Artur – The Library of Ohara who supported keeping everything within the timeline that the original manga series followed. So, it’s exciting to see the heavy involvement of people from the community that’ll help this live-action adaptation flourish and grow going into its second, and likely even more ambitious next season.

Source: twitter

It looks like people have been enjoying the adventure toward the Grand Line, as the live-action One Piece series has remained the #1 most-watched show on Netflix for a third week in a row. The adventure series pulled in 10M views with around 75.5 M hours viewed. It was a close race with Virgin River, which is in its fifth season but still couldn’t dethrone the manga adaptation while Who is Erin Carter? remained in the top three.

It looks like Netflix knew where the series was going and that is why they gave it a second season renewal early on; not common for the streaming service. The big fear was that the third week would see a massive drop after a slight increase in its second, but it held surprisingly strong with “only” a 48% drop. It still seems unlikely it’ll kick Queen Charlotte from the Top 10 spot but shows that if they keep a consistent release, the show has a good chance to grow over time.

It’ll be interesting to see if the show manages to still hold strong. It’s facing some big competition going into its fourth week with Sex Education’s final season and a new season of Love is Blind. So, we’ll see if the series will hold on to the top three or if it manages to even still hold unto the second spot going into its fourth week. For now, we’ll just have to wait but it does continue to seem like word-of-mouth is strong and shows the potential for the series.

Source: Netflix, The Wrap

Just as the live-action One Piece series was in its earliest stages, there was much fanfare for Jamie Lee Curtis to join the Netflix series potentially. Of course, at the time we had no idea if there even would be a second season or if it’d manage to make a big enough splash with audiences. The actress has been a long-time fan of the series and is friends with Chopper voice actress Brina Palencia.

While she mentioned in interviews, that she’d love to play Robin, she knows that she might not fit that role anymore but has openly discussed playing Dr. Kureha. Chopper is her favorite character so the role just seems to make sense. As One Piece has now been renewed for a second season, the actress has gone out of her way to highlight that she is going to campaign for the role once actors and writers are paid what they are owed.

Some eagle-eyed readers also noticed that Matt Owens, the co-showrunner for the first season, highlighted that she won’t “need to lobby” and they’ll discuss the role once everything has been wrapped up. So, it seems like Curtis is a definite casting addition if they can finally get AMPTP to pay everyone what they deserve. With scripts pretty much ready according to the show’s producer, it’s the only big hindrance keeping them from getting the ball rolling on the production.

Source: Instagram

In just two weeks, Netflix has done the impossible and already renewed the live-action One Piece series. Okay, might be overdoing it but in a clever little message from Eiichiro Oda, who seems to be loving his puppet Transponder Snail, used the opportunity to confirm that the live-action series is indeed going to return for a second season. Not only that, but he goes out of his way to highlight the arrival of an iconic ship’s doctor for the Straw Hats. As an adorable little extra, he even draws up an adorable drawing based on his manga look and states that it’ll still take some time to finish the scripts.

It’s great news and hopefully a reflection of how much the studio believes in this project. Of course, we don’t know when a second season will be able to release given that Hollywood is still on strike. Hopefully, they will finally have a resolution to solve the issue; being them not paying their actors and writers fairly. It’s interesting that he says the scripts still need time given that Tomorrow Studios already confirmed they are pretty much ready to shoot.

Their big goal would be to avoid taking longer than two years for the second season to release, as that commonly has not been beneficial due to the long wait time outside of a well-established IP The show is #1 two weeks in a row and it’s uncertain if it’ll keep it up going into its third week, where they commonly see a drop. Maybe a cynical outlook could see this renewal as a way to boost its viewership going into the third week to see if it’s worth it. Either way, it’s great that we’ll get to see the Arabasta saga come to life.

source: Twitter