Earlier this year, Netflix finally spilled the beans when it came to who would be taking on the role of Tony Tony Chopper in the second season of the live-action One Piece. Created using CG, the Straw Hat Pirates’ doctor is played by Mikaela Hoover, who entertainment enthusiasts might have recently caught in theaters thanks to having a role in James Gunn’s Superman. In a recent interview, Hoover revealed that she had received her role without originally knowing that she was auditioning to be a part of the Grand Line.
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Recently speaking with the outlet Collider, Hoover talked about how she was previously on the original series, Beef, before she unknowingly auditioned for the role of Luffy’s favorite M.D., ““So when I got the audition for One Piece, I was filming [Netflix’s] ‘Beef,’ and I really just wanted to focus on ‘Beef.’ I got an audition from my voice-over agent, Stephanie, who was so nice through all of this, and I said, ‘I’m passing on this, Stephanie. I need to really be focused on ‘Beef.’ It’s crazy to think about now, but they don’t have a breakdown of what it’s for. When they give you those things, they don’t give you, like, ‘This is for One Piece and Chopper,’ so I had no idea what it was for, and I just wanted to really focus on ‘Beef.’”
Chopper x Hoover: A Match Made in Heaven
Hoover then took the opportunity to discuss how she feels exceptionally connected to Tony Tony Chopper before the live-action second season arrives, “Stephanie said, ‘Hey, casting specifically asked for you for your voice for this.’ And I was like, ‘Okay. I’ll take a look.’ And again, it didn’t have the breakdown. I mean, it had a breakdown of the character, but it didn’t say where the character was, it didn’t say what it was for. But when I read the sides for him, I was like, ‘Oh, this is me.’ I felt so connected to this character, so that when I was auditioning for it, I was having so much fun. And again, that was coming alive in me again, of why I did this in the first place and why I chose this to be my career path. So, I was having so much fun auditioning for him.”
Finally, Mikaela discussed the differences between anime fan expectations and what we’ll see with her performance in One Piece season 2, “People want you to sound like the anime version. They have an idea of what they want you to sound like, and I just took my own spin, clearly, from the audition and from the session of how I felt he would be. I’m also, as you know, acting him out. All the the facial expressions, all the movement, everything is me. So, I just took a bit of who I am, circling back to the beginning and my experiences, and putting that into Chopper.”
Want to stay updated on everyone’s favorite reindeer doctor? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on the live-action One Piece and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.
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