Iñaki Godoy Says Everyone Wants To Be A Little Bit Like Luffy In 'one Piece,' Including Him

A tridimensional T. rex protrudes from Iñaki Godoy’s caput while he holds a mini plush artifact of Monkey D. Luffy, nan characteristic who changed his life forever.

The integrative dinosaur is attached to a headdress — its caput successful nan beforehand and its tail successful nan back. It’s nan first point I announcement erstwhile he arrives for our interview. But Godoy doesn’t telephone attraction to it. For him it’s nan coolest headgear, moreover much truthful because his dada gave it to him, and it’s thing he would deterioration connected an mean day, aliases for a property engagement for illustration this.

At 17, nan Mexican character landed nan domiciled of Luffy, nan skipper of nan Straw Hat Pirates successful Netflix’s live-action adjustment of nan celebrated manga “One Piece” (also a long-running anime series). He started shooting nan first play astatine 18. And now, astatine 22, he’s promoting Season 2 (out Tuesday), while taking a break from shooting nan 3rd batch of episodes successful South Africa — wherever nan entirety of nan bid truthful acold has been brought to life.

“Thanks to playing Luffy, I tin now genuinely dedicate myself to being a master character and a imaginative person,” Godoy says successful Spanish while sitting wrong a West Hollywood edifice past month. “And for that, I will ever beryllium grateful to this project.”

Godoy radiates effortless charisma, a benignant of uncynical openness that feels some childlike and magnetic. Wouldn’t you want to bent retired pinch nan feline unabashedly wearing a chapeau pinch a prehistoric animal bursting retired of each end? No uncertainty that playful warmth played a portion successful him being formed arsenic Luffy, a hilariously nonchalant, yet utterly sincere would-be pirate. “One Piece” unfolds successful an alternate past wherever futuristic technology, classical pirate imagery and imagination collide. Luffy tin agelong his assemblage for illustration rubber aft eating a magic fruit, for example.

Iñaki Godoy arsenic Monkey D. Luffy successful Season 2 of Netflix’s “One Piece.”

(Netflix)

“Iñaki’s bosom arsenic a quality is arsenic large arsenic Luffy’s. That is nan overlap,” says shaper Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios, which produces nan bid for Netflix, successful a abstracted question and reply complete Zoom. “But Iñaki is an unthinkable character who is bringing a important magnitude of accomplishment to a domiciled that tin alteration connected a dime successful 1 scene. He tin beryllium playing 3 aliases 4 different ideas astatine once.”

In nan mind of “One Piece” creator Eiichiro Oda, nan vivacious Luffy hailed from Brazil. Thus, during nan casting process, nan accumulation focused their sights connected Latin America to find nan correct actor. When Godoy taped his audition, changeable while moving connected different task successful Canada, he publication nan segment from nan first section wherever Luffy is speaking pinch his caller friend Koby while a vessel they conscionable escaped from burns successful nan background.

“They liked my audition, but they asked maine to grounds it again,” recalls Godoy. “They said, ‘Luffy is not bothered by nan burning vessel down him. He’s wholly relaxed.’” He listened to nan feedback, amped up nan carefree, and later learned that his mentation made Oda laugh.

“Luffy is nan cornerstone of nan full tone and heartbeat of this manga franchise. It takes a very typical quality to enactment that. We knew our biggest casting situation was going to beryllium uncovering who could beryllium Luffy,” Clements says. “When we saw Iñaki, we could respire again because we knew we recovered Luffy.”

Originally from Mexico City, nan vivacious Godoy had been performing from an early age, agelong earlier “One Piece” was connected nan horizon.

“I started acting erstwhile I was 4 because I decidedly wasn’t going to person a early playing soccer,” Godoy says laughing. “But I had ever liked entertaining people, and my parents realized that, truthful they enrolled maine successful philharmonic theatre classes.” He soon made his shape debut playing Flounder successful a accumulation of “The Little Mermaid” arsenic portion of that program. It was a type nan teachers had written and turned into a communicative astir recycling.

“I don’t cognize what went done my caput but being connected stage, successful beforehand of everyone, I thought, ‘Wow, I deliberation I tin do this for nan remainder of my life,’” he recalls. “Acting is 1 of those things I’ve been doing for truthful agelong and since I was truthful young that I can’t moreover retrieve a clip successful my life erstwhile I didn’t want to beryllium an actor, erstwhile I didn’t want to show stories.”

“I don’t cognize what went done my caput but being connected stage, successful beforehand of everyone, I thought, ‘Wow, I deliberation I tin do this for nan remainder of my life,’” says Iñaki Godoy astir his first acting acquisition astatine 4.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

He began acting professionally astatine 9 years old, and Godoy’s first recurring domiciled came astatine 11, successful a Spanish-language play bid for Telemundo titled “La querida del Centauro.” That accumulation holds a typical spot for him. “They ever made maine consciousness for illustration my sentiment mattered moreover though I was a child,” he says.

Throughout his puerility and early adolescence, Godoy took aggregate acting courses, including 1 pinch seasoned Mexican thespian Silverio Palacios. And from nan property of 9 until he was 16, Godoy traveled to California each summertime for a campy that featured an acting program. “It mightiness not sound very blase successful position of an acting education, but nan campy meant a batch to me,” he says. “I learned a batch by trying to constitute and enactment things for young group from different parts of nan world pinch different interests.”

Summer campy besides helped Godoy believe his English, a connection he’d been studying from a young age. “I see myself a very privileged person,” he says. “My parents were capable to enroll maine successful a bilingual school, for which I americium very grateful.” His mastery of English served arsenic a cardinal advantage erstwhile “One Piece” knocked connected his door.

The boy of an accountant begetter and a stay-at-home mom, Godoy is nan first personification successful his family to prosecute a life successful entertainment. That his parents nourished his productivity truthful early successful life speaks to really overmuch of a supportive unit they’ve been successful Godoy’s life. He calls his parents each time from wherever he is successful nan world.

Before “One Piece,” a teenage Godoy was still considering different profession options. “I thought, ‘Is this acting point thing I tin perpetrate to for a longer time?’ Because being an character is difficult. But ‘One Piece’ has fixed maine nan chance to aspire to a agelong and successful career.”

The character says “One Piece” has fixed him nan chance astatine a agelong profession successful nan industry.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

The different master way that Godoy contemplated would’ve still brought him backmost to acting. “My original scheme was, ‘I’m going to spell to movie schoolhouse to go a director,’ because I didn’t person religion that I’d get nan projects I wanted,” he explains. “I thought, ‘If I want to play a domiciled that really intends thing to me, I deliberation I’m going to person to constitute it myself.’”

Godoy admits that earlier entering nan “One Piece” universe, he didn’t watch anime. To immerse himself successful Luffy’s worldview, he publication nan manga and watched nan anime up to wherever he felt he’d learned capable astir nan characteristic to embody him.

“I didn’t want to watch each of ‘One Piece’ earlier we started filming because I besides judge that erstwhile making an adaptation, it’s important to onslaught a equilibrium betwixt respecting nan original material, giving it its owed — because fans person expectations of what this characteristic should beryllium like, and those expectations must beryllium met. But it’s besides important to person capable assurance to bring thing you judge is valuable to nan table,” Godoy says.

While reference nan manga, Godoy would return photos of Luffy’s wildest faces to effort to see them successful his performance. “As an actor, 1 of your astir important devices is your physicality, and nan astonishing point astir nan manga is that you person a assets pinch ocular images of things that you tin physically re-create,” he says.

Once he wrapped nan first season, Godoy continued watching nan “One Piece” anime and past branched retired to different celebrated sagas: “Attack connected Titan,” “Death Note” and “My Hero Academia.” It was besides aft nan first installment that he started learning Japanese.

“’One Piece’ has had specified a awesome effect connected my life and it’s thing I’m truthful grateful for that I wanted to show my appreciation to nan Japanese group somehow,” he explains. “And I deliberation nan astir evident measurement was by learning their language.”

Committed to learning nan language, Godoy took classes pinch teachers connected apical of nan hours he dedicated to studying connected his ain for nan past 2 years. He’s now comfortable doing events and interviews successful Japanese erstwhile he visits nan state to beforehand nan series.

“I don’t see myself nan astir cleanable speaker of nan language, but I tin pass good capable to talk astir immoderate taxable and definitive what I want to say,” Godoy says. “Maybe I do it a small slow and pinch very elemental words, but I consciousness assured that I tin do it.”

For Season 2, he felt for illustration he knew Luffy capable to bring much of himself to nan role. “In nan first play I was still experimenting pinch really I was going to accommodate this character, but from nan 2nd play onwards, I’ve had a very clear imagination of what I wanted to execute and who Luffy is,” Godoy explains.

And who is Luffy? Godoy only afloat grasped nan reply earlier shooting Season 2. He understood that he shouldn’t deliberation of Luffy arsenic a existent personification but alternatively arsenic a conception that inspires different people.

“In nan first play I was still experimenting pinch really I was going to accommodate this character, but from nan 2nd play onwards, I’ve had a very clear imagination of what I wanted to execute and who Luffy is,” Iñaki Godoy says.

(Netflix)

“Luffy is much for illustration an ideal,” he says. “He’s what we each wish we could be. We each wish we could beryllium arsenic assured arsenic Luffy, arsenic brave arsenic him, arsenic unfastened pinch group and not clasp grudges, but nary 1 will ever beryllium precisely for illustration him. But we each wish we could beryllium a small spot for illustration Luffy aliases person friends for illustration Luffy.”

And while Godoy is flattered that group presume he’s conscionable arsenic easygoing and self-assured arsenic Luffy, he’s still moving connected getting person to him.

“I ever aspire to beryllium for illustration Luffy,” says Godoy. “But dissimilar him, I do person insecurities and I do person fears, and I get very tense astir galore things. But sometimes I inquire myself, ‘What would Luffy say?’ successful definite situations, and that inspires maine and helps maine support going.”

For Godoy, nan beingness demands of playing Luffy represented nan astir challenging aspects of nan production. He did study really to do a backflip but is alert of his limitations, and is keen connected shouting retired his stunt double, Cameron Groep. “He is Luffy successful nan aforesaid measurement that I am,” he says. Still, for a shirtless segment this season, Godoy put successful other effort, “I tried to get buff because that clip is going to unrecorded everlastingly connected TV!” he laughs.

What Godoy does person a awesome aptitude for, however, is video games. “I want to return this opportunity to opportunity that Iñaki Godoy loves video games and I deliberation they are 1 of nan astir unthinkable creator mediums location is,” he says. Godoy favors Nintendo releases, particularly games specified arsenic “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” and “Super Mario Galaxy.”

Laughing, he adds: “I’m a superior gamer, because location are a batch of group who opportunity they are gamers, but they only play FIFA. I’m truthful happy you asked maine astir this.”

Speaking pinch Godoy, 1 discovers a grounded young artist, alert that fame is fleeting and conscious that those who emotion him will do truthful nary matter nan trajectory of his career.

“An actor’s profession is very overmuch astir ups and downs. One time you’re applicable and group watch you, and nan adjacent time you’re nary longer interesting,” he says. “Right now, I’m doing an question and reply pinch you, who knows if successful 10 years aliases little that will still happen. I’m enjoying this infinitesimal and nan opportunity to stock a characteristic that intends truthful overmuch to me.”