SUPER MARIO BROS. Movie Producer Teases Chris Pratt's Unique and Different Voice for Mario
There were a lot of mixed reactions when it was announced that Chris Pratt would be providing the voice of Mario in Illumination Entertainment and Nintendo’s animated Super Mario Bros. movie. Well, a new detail has emerged about Pratt’s version of Mario that might rub hardcore fans the wrong way.
Producer Chris Meledandri recently teased in interview with toofab that Pratt will be doing a unique and different kind of voice for Mario. But, he’s confident that it will win over fans. He said: "All I can tell you is the voice that he's doing for us, and Mario, is phenomenal. Yeah I can't wait for people to hear it."
As for the heavy Italian accent, it seems like that is something that is going to be toned down for the movie. When asked about that Meledandri said, "Well, as an Italian American myself, I understand. You know, I understand the comments." He went on to point out, "Charlie Day, who's playing Luigi, actually comes from Italian heritage. Yeah so that's our nod."
The producer goes on to say that the reason for Mario’s voice being different is something that the film will address, "We cover it in the movie. So you'll see we definitely nod to that.” He explained that the Italian accent is “not the tenor of the performance throughout the film.”
While this may worry some fans, the producer feels that when audiences hear and see the film, they’ll be won over by what Pratt does with the character. We’ll just have to wait and see!
The voice cast also includes Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, and comedian Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
The movie is being directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who previously worked on the animated series Teen Titans Go! and the film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. The script will be written by Matthew Fogel (The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Minions: The Rise of Gru). It will be produced by Chris Meledandri of Illumination and Shigeru Miyamoto, Representative Director and Fellow of Nintendo.
The upcoming Mario Bros. movie will be released in December 2022.