Camrus Johnson remembers that being cast in Netflix’s live-action “One Piece” as Mr. 5 felt like he was stepping into one of the biggest worlds he had worked in, though he was still a relative newbie to the franchise when he was cast.
On “The Wayne Ayers Podcast,” Johnson revealed that he learned he had been cast in February 2024, a week after he had auditioned for a callback. However, he is not quite sure where he was when he heard the news.
“It was so long ago,” Johnson said. “I have no idea, dog. All I know is I did the callback, and I was told a week later that I booked it.”
While he had heard of “One Piece” before he was cast in the live-action series, he had not yet become a hardcore fan until he was cast in the show.
“I always knew of ‘One Piece.’ I never knew it was like the number one anime until I got in the show,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he watched the first two episodes of the anime, then binge-watched the entire first season of the live-action series, and then went back to binge-watching the anime from there. He said he is “a baby in Nakama,” but quickly came to understand why “One Piece” has been around for so long.
“It’s so funny. It’s so silly. So fun,” Johnson said. “And I get why it’s been a thing for so long.”
He has watched around 150 to 175 episodes so far, though he does not have much time to watch more, as he is currently working on directing, writing, and making music. However, he is eager to keep watching, having heard how intense “One Piece” is after watching so many episodes.
As far as the production itself is concerned, Johnson says that One Piece is the best production that he has ever been a part of.
“Honestly, I think ‘One Piece’ was the best production I’ve ever been a part of,” Johnson said.
He says the production was great because the costumes were colorful and specific, the hair was the best he has ever seen on screen, and the sets were the most impressive he has ever seen. Johnson says the set at Whiskey Peak was impressive because it was built in an area where wild horses roam and where snakes were cleared out by a snake wrangler every day.
“They built a town,” Johnson said. “It was the experience that I hope every actor that I know and love gets to have one day.”
Johnson was in Cape Town for five months and says that the cast and crew were the best in the business. Johnson says the sense of family expressed by the cast and crew in interviews was genuine.
“The press isn’t faking it,” Johnson said. “We had a freaking blast.”
He says that the cast and crew spent time together at vineyards, playing games, and on safaris and four-wheeling in the White Sand Dunes. Johnson says the cast and crew welcomed him immediately upon his arrival in Cape Town. Johnson also says he immediately connected with several cast members. One of the people that Johnson connected with was Johnson’s on-screen lover, Jazar, who plays the role of Miss Valentine.
“Love me some JJ, man,” he said. “We had a good time.”
Having a “partner in crime” on the project made the experience more fun because he and Jazar were always working together on camera and building their relationship as a duo.
He shared one of his funniest memories from working on the project, telling how Jazar convinced him to take a cold plunge in the ocean. He hated it and got sick after taking the plunge. He then decided to take another cold plunge at the gym and ended up getting sick again.
“I don’t think cold dips are for me,” he said.
When he was working on his character for Mr. 5, Johnson said he began researching it as soon as he suspected he would be portraying it. He contacted a friend who is a big One Piece fan to help him out. Once he figured out that his friend had guessed he was going to be Mr. 5, he said he watched every clip he could find of the character.
“The first thing I did was watch all the Mr. 5 clips,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that I portrayed him as best as I could.”
Johnson said he was immediately drawn to his character because he is cool and smooth and has one of the best Devil Fruit powers out there.
“This dude is dope,” Johnson said. “This dude is smooth, and he’s cool.”
He also challenged the notion that Mr. 5 is a morally misunderstood villain. Asked if he saw Mr. 5 as a villain or simply a man doing a job that is dangerous, Johnson had a clear response.
“No, he’s a villain,” Johnson said.
While Mr. 5 may not be the worst person in the world, Johnson explained that he is a villain by choice, as he knowingly works for a crime syndicate and gets a kick out of being among the powerful people who destroy heroes.
“He knows that he’s one of the bad guys, and I think that he gets off on that,” Johnson said. “I like that he sees himself as the order.”
This attitude is also a part of Mr. 5’s relationship with Miss Valentine. Johnson explained that Mr. 5 and Valentine are a great team because they respect each other’s abilities as fighters, but that doesn’t mean that they are necessarily friends.
“They respect each other so much, but they’re not friends,” Johnson explained. “They’re like two people who think that friendship is stupid. They’re great at what they do. They’re a great team. They’re both very good at their jobs. But if someone told them to betray each other, they would do it immediately.”
As for which of the two would have a problem with the other if they were stuck on a deserted island together, Johnson gave that award to Miss Valentine, as Mr. 5 is impatient but quiet about it, as opposed to Valentine.
One of the biggest surprises for Johnson was how closely the production matched the larger-than-life style of the source material, particularly the explosions. Asked about Mr. 5’s explosive powers and how they were adapted for live action, Johnson said that many of the blasts were not created in post-production.
“Those weren’t visual effects,” he said. “Those were real explosions. Those were practical.”
Johnson recalled one explosion so large it rose above the building-sized set, forcing the crew to clear everyone out and watch from the parking lot.
“It was gigantic,” he said. “That’s all real.”
The production team walked the cast members through all of these processes and explained when they would have to clear the set. Johnson said that, while he was on set, he didn’t completely grasp all of the technicalities behind how the special effects team was able to create these different types of explosions.
Fans who are waiting to see Mr. 5 in action have responded well so far, Johnson said. While they initially liked how he looked, they eventually liked him even more after hearing how he sounded in some promotional materials.
“They’ve been like mad supportive,” he said. “It’s only been, love.”
Johnson said he is particularly anxious for fans to see Episode 3, which he called one of the strongest in the series. He said that there is an adaptation of Zoro’s 100-man fight, and that it all flows into the Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine segments.
“It is some of the best action I’ve ever seen,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that while Episodes 5 and 7 are some of his personal favorites, Episode 3 is particularly exciting, particularly for action fans.
While Johnson has his own character, he said that so far his two favorite One Piece characters have been Zoro and Chopper, although Ace was also very good. Zoro was always a character Johnson said he liked from the beginning, and while there is no way not to like Chopper, Johnson said he is almost impossible not to love.
“Chopper is everything that I could ever want,” Johnson said.
As for what pirate crew Mr. 5 might join if he had to leave Baroque Works, Johnson considered the Red Hair Pirates, though he joked that Mr. 5’s attitude might be a problem.
Johnson also stated that if he and the cast had to survive in the One Piece world for a week, he would first team up with Taz, who plays Sanji.
“Taz is an adventurous guy. He’s a worldly guy. He’s a guy who can pick up skills that we need whenever we need them. I feel like in the world of ‘One Piece,’ he could just pick up skills that we need whenever we need them,” Johnson said.
As a director himself, Johnson stated that if he had the chance to direct a One Piece episode based on a character’s backstory, he would choose Miss Goldenweek.
“Her power is so interesting. I would love to know what happened in her past life that would cause her to use her paint in the way she does,” Johnson said.
Looking back on working on the show, Johnson stated that what made the experience unique was the joy of the production.
“You almost don’t even believe that you get to have an experience like that as an actor,” Johnson said. “I really, really had an incredible time.”
