Many fans didn’t think Chris Pratt could pull off Charles Martinet’s Mario voice for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but it was revealed that Mario would talk more like a regular person for the film.
Interestingly, Pratt was asked to try and emulate mob boss Tony Soprano for his Mario voice. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Pratt, and co-star Charlie Day (Luigi) were asked how they came up with the voices in the film.
Day explained, “We tried different things, different voices… Every now and then they would say, ‘Charlie, maybe a little less Goodfellas in this one’ — I’m like, ‘Alright! I think you’re wrong, but fine!’ — until they landed on something they liked.”
Pratt adds, “For a minute, I walked in and they were like, ‘That’s a little New Jersey. You’re doing a Tony Soprano thing.'”
Admittedly, there was a lot of negativity following Pratt’s casting online, but watching the film; you can understand that they wanted Mario to sound not too much like a cartoon. Instead, it’s explained that Mario uses a high-pitched voice to make their ad funnier. Original Mario VA Charles Martinet also voices an older Italian background character, and he sounds just like the game Mario.
I guess it’s also worth mentioning that they got Martinet to voice Mario’s dad in the film, so it feels like a perfect hand-off to Pratt from the guy who voiced Mario for decades.
For now, catch The Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters.
