Jamie Lee Curtis wants in on the live-action One Piece series, and she wants to take on the live-action role of Dr. Kureha. Shortly after she said she was going to launch a campaign to get cast in the series, One Piece‘s co-showrunner, Matt Owens, responded, saying: “Mommy dearest, that’s why we sent you that figure! No need to lobby. Once we get what we deserve and get back to work, let’s talk!”
Now, in a recent interview with Deadline, Owens was asked about adding Curtis to the cast, and he said that they are “trying to manifest it” and that once the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike is over, they’ll start having “real conversations” with the actress. He also said the staff of the series is currently “writing for her.” Owen said:
“We have opportunities to stunt cast some roles, some rules that are very important, and it came out that Jamie Lee Curtis is a One Piece fan. As soon as she said that, we were like, okay, we have to try and get her on the show. What can we do? And Doctor Kureha, very luckily, is a character who is coming up in our story, and is someone who is perfect for Jamie Lee Curtis. So we tried to start manifesting this dream of ours. After she won her Oscar, the writers room sent her a figure of Doctor Kureha with a nice note that said, ‘Congratulations on your statue, here’s another one to put next to it. Hope to speak to you soon.’
“When she reposted that, it got a lot of fan interest, and I commented on it. We’re trying to manifest it. Yes, as of right now, SAG is still striking so there have not been real conversations. But as soon as there can be, I’m ready. I will take her out to dinner, we’ll talk about it. We’ll do all of it because at this point we’re writing for her — we really, really want her to come and play with us in Season 2.”
It sounds like the producing team is going to make every effort they can to make this casting happen, and if it does, there’s no doubt that Curtis will be great in the role. My one issue with casting Curtis is that she’s such a well-known actress that it could be more of a distraction, and pull audiences out of the story. One of the things I love about the show is that all the main characters are played by people who aren’t well known, so the world feels more real and engaging.
But, there are also a lot of fans who are excited about the prospect of Curtis playing Dr. Kureha. Regardless of how this all goes down, I trust the creative team. They did such a great job with the first season! What do you think!?