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Aug 05, 2023

One Piece Director Emma Sullivan On Bringing The Straw Hats To Life

Director Emma Sullivan discusses her two episodes of Netflix's One Piece, as well as the challenges and the excitement of this huge project. The debut of the One Piece live-action series on Netflix is

Director Emma Sullivan discusses her two episodes of Netflix's One Piece, as well as the challenges and the excitement of this huge project.

The debut of the One Piece live-action series on Netflix is surely one of the most important things that happened in the world of TV and entertainment in 2023. To accomplish such an impressive endeavor, an incredible cast of actors and a crew of artists and creators came together, including Emma Sullivan, who directed episodes 3 and 4 of the season.

An experienced director who was nominated for a Palme d'Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival and won many awards worldwide including Best Short Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival, Emma Sullivan's most recent forays into TV include The Watch and Doctor Who. Screen Rant spoke with Emma about her experience with One Piece and the challenges that came from trying to adapt to TV one of the most popular anime and manga franchises in the world.

Screen Rant: My first question is maybe that's one you've heard already. How familiar were you with One Piece before being called to work on the live-action?

Emma Sullivan: I wasn't familiar with it at first. But what I found out when I spoke to my son about it was that he had read the whole thing in lockdown. When I said to him that there was a show coming up about a rubber pirate he was like: "What??" And that reaction and that face made me realize, "Oh, this is really big. This is really big." And then all my nephews are huge fans. So, I've been told in no uncertain terms that I was not allowed to mess it up.

How hard was it to catch up with such a vast lore and such a long-running series? I'm sure your nephews and son helped you but was it hard?

Emma Sullivan: It is hard. And obviously I have to understand the episodes that I was doing. But we had Matt Owens and Steve Maeda who are huge One Piece fans as our showrunners. And obviously, Oda looked at the scripts, so I just went back to the manga.

I just kind of had to look at how he writes and how he draws his amazing frames. And, and I loved things like the front pages, they always have these beautiful images of all the Straw Hats hanging out together. And then you've got fan questions at the back. So yeah, just absorb as much as I can. I wouldn't test me on 1000 chapters, though.

Of course, this is not your first foray into large-scale TV productions after your work on Doctor Who season 12, but how would you say your experience with One Piece compared to that?

Emma Sullivan: I mean, very simply put, it's bigger. It's just big. The world of One Piece is amazing. Our sets, we shot in Cape Town in South Africa, which was wonderful. Huge. The ships are like life-size, when I saw the Baratie I was very jealous that I wasn't shooting on that. But it's just massive sets, massive show, massive IP...

And I think what's helpful is that I've dealt with IP that means a lot to its fans before. You know that you have to get it right; that there are a lot of people who are so passionate about One Piece that you want to make sure that they feel like you've done it justice, as well as Oda obviously.

Speaking of the episodes that you have directed, these were the two episodes in which Usopp joins the crew. This character really stands out among the many tropes of the Shonen genre, which One Piece belongs to, because he is a liar and a coward. And yet, he captivated fans and became actually one of the most popular characters. What do you think of Usopp, and what traits of the character did you try to highlight in your episodes?

Emma Sullivan: I think with Usopp it's the loyalty. He has huge loyalty to Kaya, and we've got this backstory of what happened to him and why he wants to be a pirate and why he wants to go out and join Luffy's gang. I think the whole show is all about your dreams. Usopp's dream is to go out and be a brave warrior of the seas, and Luffy is there to make everybody feel like they should follow their dreams.

With Usopp, he's got such a big heart. And he's so inventive and so creative, and his stories are so wonderful. And he's brave, even when he's terrified, and you can't help but like that. Plus the actor, Jacob is lovely.

How much freedom did the directors and the writers have to change the original story?

Emma Sullivan: Only as much as Oda gave us, because everything went through Oda. For example, I had a scene where Kuina and young Zoro are fighting, and we shot that originally. Oda watched it, and he said, "I don't want the Kendo masks on. I want it reshot." So, we went back to Cape Town, and we shot it again. It was better, and it was good.

Everything went through him. It's an incredibly creative IP, so you're constantly trying to do it justice, and you find the most beautiful visual way to tell his stories. But at the same time you have to go within the parameters of show.

This show is adapting the earliest part of One Piece, which had a very strong comedy element, and the characters in the manga were basically walking and talking gags at times. In the live-action, the comedy is not completely gone, but the characters and the story are a lot more serious. Do you think that the more serious element of the story had to take precedence?

Emma Sullivan: I think a lot of that was decided before I arrived with the scripts written by the showrunners, Matt and Steve. But to be fair, I really latch on to any humor that I find because I think it keeps things bubbling along.

And I think there is quite a lot of humor. In my episodes, it's not an outright comedy, but I love the fact that Zoro has no sense of direction. He's badass, but he doesn't know which way he's going, and he's got great one-liners. I think it's always a balancing act of the tone. But obviously, I get the scripts that I'm given, and then I interpret them tonally to what it should be.

I think hopefully, even though we've got this kind of thrilling horror elements in mind, we do puncture it with humor and the lightness of tone.

In your episodes, there's the big confrontation with the Black Cat pirates, which in the original story happens in the open. It all happens inside a big house, almost like a haunted mansion setting.

Emma Sullivan: Yes, and a lot of fun. Amazing sets that we got to play with and a huge, huge building. It's always fun to kind of use the camera to create tension and anticipation for the reveals, it's super fun for a director to bring these genre elements into a project.

The live-action anime genre is a very tricky one, as evidenced by the negative responses to Death Note and Cowboy Bebop. Did you feel any kind of reservations about exploring this genre when you were approached for One Piece? And if so, how did you overcome them?

Emma Sullivan: I've watched a few of these shows and lots of different anime. I'm a big Studio Ghibli fan, but you can't make actors do those big actions and faces that we can get in the anime, so it wouldn't work. And if we tried, it would be really awkward, and I think it would throw everybody out of the story.

I think what we had to do is we had to find a grounded approach, and we had to find an emotionally real approach to it. We have to kind of tap into these characters, and feel what makes us relate as an audience to them. I think we can all relate to just following our dreams and the positivity of Luffy, especially now, at all times.

Based on Japan’s highest-selling manga series in history by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a legendary high-seas adventure unlike any other. Monkey D. Luffy is a young adventurer who has longed for a life of freedom since he can remember. Luffy sets off from his small village on a perilous journey to find the legendary fabled treasure, One Piece, to become King of the Pirates! But in order to find the ultimate prize, Luffy will need to assemble the crew he’s always wanted before finding a ship to sail, searching every inch of the vast blue seas, outpacing the Marines, and outwitting dangerous rivals at every turn.

All 8 episodes of One Piece are currently available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Francesco is an Editor working for Screen Rant's Anime and Comics section. In his spare time he is also a lecturer in History and Cultural Studies. You can get mad at him on Twitter @FrancCacc