Iñaki Godoy took creative liberties with Luffy’s voice on Netflix’s One Piece so that it’s purposely different from the anime version.
Godoy’s different but familiar portrayal of Monkey D. Luffy succeeded in a show that’s a proper adaptation of the Japanese animation. The actor admitted to Teen Vogue this choice was deliberate because he didn’t want to replicate Mayumi Tanaka’s anime rendition. He pointed out that it was equally important that he would do his own thing with the live-action version, saying, “The anime is great as it is, I would never try to replicate it. I mean, that’s why it’s been going for so long. And the live-action needs to stand by its side.”
Godoy expressed his admiration for Tanaka’s commitment to the character, which inspired him to develop his version of the role. “I watched the anime,” he said, confirming he was part of the One Piece fandom. “I mainly saw the Japanese dub. Mayumi Tanaka has been voicing Luffy for a very long time, since 1999. And what she has done is amazing. Amazing, And I would never try to replicate any of that. Because that’s her own thing. She created her own version of this character, and I have to do my own thing with the live-action too.”
Becoming Monkey D. Luffy
The actor admitted he studied Luffy’s backstory, motivation, and mannerisms so he could do justice to a character that’s so endeared to the One Piece fan base. He said he looked beyond the dubbing and translation so he could gain a better understanding of the role and deliver a nuanced interpretation. “Y’know, more than paying attention to what the dub actors were doing, I really just paid attention to what the character was all about,” he explained.
Godoy did admit he had to adjust his voice’s pitch so it’s higher and closer to Luffy’s often-energetic tone. “My voice in Spanish is a lot deeper. If you heard me speak in Spanish, my Spanish is a lot lower than Luffy,” he said in Spanish to demonstrate the difference. Switching back to English, he continued, “So, yeah, my voice in Spanish is like, way deeper than Luffy’s voice in English. I found his voice just with time, it just appeared. And slowly with time, I started to speak [raises pitch] more like this. More like, ahh, oh wow! And being more loud.” The actor also praised the Netflix show’s script, which was written well and helped him with the adjustment. “It just came natural. The script is so good that it just pushes you to say the lines in a certain way.”
Season 1 of One Piece is now streaming on Netflix.
Source: YouTube