One Piece Film: Red‘s English release is close at hand, and with it comes a new adventure for Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates. To commemorate the release of this landmark moment in the series, we spoke to the English voice talents behind three of the crews’ biggest personalities; Brook, Chopper, and Usopp.
Releasing in English on November 4th, One Piece Film: Red is the franchise’s fifteenth movie. Red’s main antagonist is a pop idol named Uta who was a childhood friend of Luffy and has close ties to Shanks. While much of the buzz surrounding the film focuses on what Uta will reveal about Luffy and Shanks’ pasts, they aren’t the only ones with a stake in the plot. With Usopp’s father Yasopp being an important crew member of Shanks’ Red Hair Pirates, there’s a distinct possibility that anything the Straw Hats learn about Shanks’ past could have implications for Usopp’s family.
With the fandom already hyped for Red, we sat down for a talk with Ian Sinclair, Brina Palencia, and Sonny Strait—who are the voice actors for Brook, Chopper, and Usopp respectively—to discuss this hotly anticipated movie.
The Straw Hat Pirates on One Piece Film: Red
Screen Rant: You’ve done so many One Piece movies over the years, so what do you think makes Red stand out?
Ian Sinclair: This film is like going to a concert.
Sonny Strait: Yeah, it’s big. The music is incredible. Uta’s voice is just haunting. But also, there’s a step up in the quality of animation. I mean, they went all the way with this one. It’s really good.
Is there anything different about the recording process for a movie versus recording for the show?
Ian Sinclair: I think there is. It’s continuity-wise. Like when we’re doing the show, where it’s a long stream of continuity that we’re doing, and sometimes with these movies, it’ll happen further on down the line. So there will be things that we have to have explained to us because our characters haven’t seen that person or don’t know about this new revelation or something like that. So those kinds of things.
Sonny Strait: That’s no much different than the episodes because there’s always a lot to explain in One Piece.
Where do you think your characters are at emotionally at the beginning of Red?
Sonny Strait: I’ve said this before, but Usopp has some major daddy issues. And in this movie, I don’t want to give anything away, but he really does face those issues in a very cool way. So there’s some definite character growth and ability growth for him in that.
Ian Sinclair: I don’t know that we see Brook grow specifically. But I think we are able to understand more why Luffy wanted a musician so bad.
Sonny Strait: His musicianship is very useful in this movie particularly.
Brina Palencia: I think for chopper yeah, there’s not like, a ton of growth, I would say he does look really cute though.
Sonny Strait: Adorable set to max.
Brina Palencia: It’s my favorite thing about every One Piece movie that I get the most excited about is to see what Chopper is wearing. The cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. And this movie does not disappoint.
Sonny Strait: The costume designs in this movie are amazing as well.
Brina Palencia: It’s just rock and roll. Like it’s so it’s so fun,
Sonny Strait: The final outfits that the crew wears. I wish we all had those clothing. I would wear that. Say, any of you seamstresses out there want to make that happen? We’ll say your name all over the country.
One Piece is always kind of big, but with this movie having such a big sound, was there any pressure to go even louder than you usually do?
Brina Palencia: Something that I thought was really cool, as far as the big sound, was just how awesome I feel like they accomplished everything you’re saying within the mix. Like, I feel like it’s such a great job of making it feel and sounds like you are at a rock concert. It’s not just screaming in the background. It’s like you’re immersed in the audience. It’s just big. It’s out. It’s got lots of ear candy going on.
Sonny Strait: Yeah, what Brina said. Because, in a theater, it does sound like you’re in a rock concert. It is mixed very well.
Brina Palencia: Yeah, shout out to Nathaniel Harrison on that.
One Piece has such a huge and dedicated fanbase. Do you have any particularly memorable fan interactions?
Sonny Strait: We were actually just talking about that because we want Brina to come back and do some appearances with us because it is a completely different animal. When you go to conventions now than before the pandemic there’s so much One Piece love out there now.
Brina Palencia: They’re super fun, nice, and lovely. And I love seeing especially little kids cosplaying as Chopper. That’s always my favorite. But yeah, I haven’t got to feel it in person yet.
Ian Sinclair: I had a family come up to me at one of my last cons and tell me that their lullaby at night for their toddler is Bink’s Sake and I just about broke down. Yeah, that one got to me. Just like Sonny said, it’s been this new beast because we’ve been doing this for so many hundreds of episodes. I mean, Sonny’s been at it for like eight or nine hundred episodes, and I’ve only been doing it for like six of seven hundred episodes. But, you know, we did that. And then for so many people to come up and say that they’re caught up, and that they’ve watched that many episodes, all this hard work we’ve been doing for so long is deeply gratifying. And it’s so great to talk to them about this amazing world that has so much world building and such interesting characters. And to be able to get into the little nitty-gritty with them has been incredible.
Sonny Strait: It’s amazing after that many episodes that he still finds a way to keep it interesting and moving and growing. The characters grow continually. And thank God they get older because we got older. It’s, an amazing series to work on.
How has doing so many episodes brought the cast together? Is there a
Ian Sinclair: I feel like they’re family.
Sonny Strait: We’re definitely more than friends. We are a family.
Brina Palencia: It’s wild. Like just being around each other, you’re always sort of forced to check in. I’m going to do some sort of event at some point, or some sort of interview with them and like we’ll run into each other at the studio. So it is like a touchstone. Like, yeah, we’re the Straw Hat crew. They’re like, a career touchstone.
Sonny Strait: But it’s weird too, because you can really feel the love that the actors have for these characters when we play off of them. And then when we come together at a con or whatever, it’s just like, oh, there’s my brother. You know, it just makes no sense. But I guess spiritually It does.
What was the most fun part of recording for Red and what was the most difficult?
Sonny Strait: The most fun part was Usopp’s initial costume, which is a tribute to the band KISS, and I’ve been a fan of KISS going way back. So that was really fun. And, you know, there were some emotional things for us to go through as well. So I guess that would be the difficult, but it wasn’t that difficult.
Brina Palencia: I think the most fun thing was also the most difficult which is like the epic fight scene. You know, I’m talking about just the epic scene at the climax of everything was just I mean, it was like, it was so delightful and I was just tearing up the whole time too, because it’s really sentimental at the same time. It’s beautiful. It’s really beautiful.
Ian Sinclair: I think the most fun is any comedic bit because at that point my job is to make the director Anthony laugh and that is such a fun job to have. I’d say the most difficult thing I had to do was singing without Brina holding my hand.
Brina Palencia: Ian is a really fantastic singer, but he has like zero confidence. Zero. Yeah, it’s very confusing.
Sonny Strait: I’m a terrible singer, but tons of confidence. I have no problem.
How do you approach your Japanese counterparts? Do you listen to the original Japanese at all?
Sonny Strait: We do hear it first, and to me a lot of times it feels like he’s throwing a gauntlet down saying, “Top that American”.
Brina Palencia: They’re so good. For me, it’s more of a like, can you be any cuter than this? It’s hard. I don’t know if I can. She’s so cute.
Ian Sinclair: The guy who plays Brook’s name is Chō and I want to meet him so badly. He brings so much joy, and he’s so technical. Even every one of his Yo Ho Hos has a meaning to it and so like Sonny said, it’s just like, try to follow that and you do your darndest.
Check out our other One Piece Film: Red interviews here:
- Colleen Clinkenbeard, Brandon Potter & Matt Mercer
- Amanda Lee & Jim Foronda
Look for One Piece Film: Red when it releases in theaters on November 4th.
