When he was announced as the voice of Mario, Chris Pratt faced a fair amount of backlash before anything more about his role in the Super Mario Bros. animated movie was known. Having shared a post on social media at the time captioned “It’s a me, Mario”, the internet jumped to the conclusion that Pratt would be providing a stereotypical Italian accent for the character, and even John Leguizamo slammed the movie’s casting saying it was “too bad they went all white” when giving Pratt and co-star Charlie Day the titular roles. Now Chris Pratt has addressed how he is approaching the role, and says that his Mario voice is “unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario World.”
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Super Mario Bros. was originally expected to hit cinemas in December, but was subsequently pushed back to Easter 2023 despite reports that the movie was almost complete a number of months ago. While appearing at the premiere of The Terminal List, his new series for Prime Video, Pratt spoke to Variety about how he developed his voice for Mario. He said:
“I worked really closely with the directors and trying out a few things and landed on something that I’m really proud of and can’t wait for people to see and hear. It’s an animated voiceover narrative. It’s not a live-action movie. I’m not gonna be wearing a plumber suit running all over. I’m providing a voice for an animated character, and it is updated and unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before.”
Chris Pratt Could Completely Change Mario’s Voice To What People Expect
While there have been plenty of cartoons featuring Mario with an exaggerated Italian accent, the 90s live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, which starred Bob Hoskins as Mario, didn’t involve an accented character. Recently, Disney+ movie Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers brought the famous chipmunks back to screens in an animated/live-action hybrid movie that abandoned their iconic squeaky voices for regular voices provided by John Mulaney and Andy Samberg, and it worked better that anyone expected. Could Illumination’s new take on Mario and Luigi be about to do the same?
In a recent interview, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri once again defended the casting of Pratt in the lead role, addressing the fact that they chose to use an American actor as an Italian character. He said:
Fans will be able to make up their own mind when the first footage of Super Mario Bros. is revealed ahead of the movie’s release next year.
“We are collaborating with Chris and his experienced team to not just create a character-licensed film, but a new piece of entertainment which brings ‘Super Mario Bros.’ to life on the screen, and allows everyone to enjoy whether or not they know about the game. When people hear Chris Pratt’s performance, the criticism will evaporate, maybe not entirely — people love to voice opinions, as they should. I’m not sure this is the smartest defense, but as a person who has Italian-American heritage, I feel I can make that decision without worrying about offending Italians or Italian-Americans…I think we’re going to be just fine.”
