The live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's manga series One Piece has finally arrived on Netflix, and director Marc Jobst has revealed how his previous work on Marvel's Daredevil TV series helped him find the show's "playful tone".
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Jobst explained how Daredevil enabled him to trust his instincts within "these superhero and fantasy worlds".
"I think it really helped me trust my instincts of grounding things in truth, in these worlds, and to not come at it as a fantasy director who's creating mad, fantastical characters, but as a director who comes in and tries to find the truth of the relationships, and the truth of the characters," he said.
Jobst went on to recall an interaction he once had with a Daredevil fan, who told him that she fast-forwards all the action sequences because she "just loves the drama of it."
"So it made me think, 'Well, OK, we've got to make the action count'," he said.
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The director continued: "It's like a song. In a musical, if a song can be taken out, and you can just remove the song and it all still works – get rid of the song. It's the same with action sequences. If you can take the action sequence out and the drama still works, it's the wrong piece of action.
"Your action has got to tell some kind of character story, or some kind of storyline, so that, at the end of the action sequence, we're somewhere different to where we began. That way, you've got to go back, and you've got to watch the action to understand how you got there."
Related: One Piece Review: Netflix's live action captures the adventurous slapstick spirit of the anime
But Daredevil isn't the only show that helped Jobst out with One Piece, as he also credited The Witcher for teaching him "a lot about how to shoot choreography".
"Henry [Cavill] is an extraordinary swordsman and I didn't want to cut the bugger out of these fights," he shared. "I wanted to see him fight! I wanted to see the dance of it all, you know?"
Jobst concluded: "Bringing that to One Piece, to try to find a very particular tone to One Piece, because it is a very particular show – I wanted the fight sequences to have a real, individual, unique feel.
"So if the Marvel shows and The Witcher were all about the punch, and getting that punch and the slow motion and the blood and the sweat and the grit and the dirt and all that – One Piece was much more playful, and One Piece was all about the journey to the punch."
One Piece is available to stream now on Netflix.
Social Executive, Entertainment Portfolio After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022, where she wrote across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. Following her internship, Iona continued contributing to the site as a freelance reporter, becoming social executive for the Hearst UK entertainment portfolio in summer 2025. Iona now leads the DS social channels, covering red carpets with stars such as Paul Mescal, Austin Butler, and more.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
