If you were one of the many people who tuned in and watched One Piece and loved Buggy, then you’re not alone – one of the directors and executive producers, Marc Jobst, loves the actor (and character), too.
One character that stood out from the rest of the main cast was Buggy, portrayed by Jeff Ward. The character, who was the main antagonist of the second episode and played a pretty important role as the season went on, could separate his body parts at will after he ate his own Devil Fruit. The Straw Hat Pirates had led him to where his body was, and at the very end, he obtained all his body parts back and ran off.
In an interview that CinemaBlend did with Marc Jobst, the director stated that they knew Jeff Ward was going to play Buggy from the start – and that the actor even came to his audition with clown makeup and “sprung out of the screen” instantly. Buggy is a significant role, and Jobst knew that to portray that kind of character, they needed an actor who would be willing to do that:
Jeff Ward, when he came into the audition, he auditioned with makeup…and he kind of sprung out of the screen and kind of grabbed you by the throat, just his audition. And it was like, ‘wow, this is a big character, Buggy,’ and you’ve got to have somebody who’s going to just slip on those shoes and go for it.
One Piece has become a massive hit on Netflix. While fans did wait for years after it was announced that Netflix would somehow adapt the beloved manga to the small screen, the show premiered on August 30th to rave reviews and fans tuning in for the chance to be a part of the pirate madness with the best One Piece live-action adaptation.
Jobst continued to praise Ward’s acting ability to bring the character of Buggy to life and agreed that he would love to see both Buggy and Alvida (the character that was teased next to Buggy at the very end of the season) again but that it was up to the writers to see where they went with the story:
I think that the most brilliant thing about Jeff is he stepped into that floor and he just landed it. He roared his part, and it was like, “wow, we got our Buggy here.” And it went on from that. And that was terrific. And again, I love those two characters, and if there’s space for their story, I’m definitely in for it… it’s the writers who’ll make that decision, not me.
In addition to the interview, Marc Jobst asked us to state:
Marc would like to state that he supports both SAG and WGA in their pursuit of reaching a fair and equitable resolution to the respective strikes. In talking about his work – past and present – he does so with unequivocal support for the highly skilled crews that make up the different unions (SAG and WGA included) and believes all should be valued and recompensed for the contributions they make in bringing these series and films to life.
One Piece has been a massive hit on social media. Not only has the One Piece cast gained significant followers since the show premiered, but the series itself has been in the top ten for the last few weeks since it first came out. And honestly, I don’t see it leaving there any time soon with the amount of praise it has received.
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Season 2 of One Piece is confirmed, and there are plenty of other storylines we would love to see. Considering the first season adapted the original story from the manga so well, I feel that the second will be just as good – and if possible, we might even see way more in the future.
While there were some villains in the manga whose screen time was cut in the show, I’m happy that Buggy was not one of them. If anything, Buggy was given way more time on the live-action series than in the anime, which I am so incredibly thankful for – as is the rest of TikTok because it’s almost concerning how so many people are obsessed with a clown. Still, I suppose that’s even more praise for Jeff Ward’s performance.
One Piece Season 1 is streaming on Netflix right now. Be sure to check it out.
Stream One Piece on Netflix.