Iaki Godoy says everyone wants to be a little bit like Luffy in 'One Piece,' including him
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A tridimensional T.rex protrudes from Iñaki Godoy’s head while he holds a small plush toy of Monkey D.
Luffy, the character who changed his life forever.The plastic dinosaur is attached to a cap — its head in the front and its tail in the back.It’s the first thing I notice when he arrives for our interview.
But Godoy doesn’t call attention to it.For him it’s the coolest headgear, even more so because his dad gave it to him, and it’s something he would wear on an average day, or for a press engagement like this.At 17, the Mexican actor landed the role of Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the popular manga “One Piece” (also a long-running anime series).
He started shooting the first season at 18.And now, at 22, he’s promoting Season 2 (out Tuesday), while taking a break from shooting the third batch of episodes in South Africa — where the entirety of the series so far has been brought to life.“Thanks to playing Luffy, I can now truly dedicate myself to being a professional actor and a creative person,” Godoy says in Spanish while sitting inside a West Hollywood hotel last month.
“And for that, I will always be grateful to this project.”Godoy radiates effortless charisma, a kind of uncynical openness that feels both childlike and magnetic.Wouldn’t you want to hang out with the guy unabashedly wearing a hat with a prehistoric creature bursting out of each end? No doubt that playful warmth played a part in him being cast as Luffy, a hilariously nonchalant, yet utterly sincere would-be pirate.
“One Piece” unfolds in an alternate past where futuristic technology, classic pirate imagery and fantasy collide.Luffy can stretch his body like rubber after eating a magic fruit, for example.“Iñaki’s heart as a human is as big as Luffy’s.
That is the overlap,” says producer Becky Clements of Tomor...