Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World star Chris Pratt has spoken about his controversial role as Super Mario in the upcoming animated adaptation.
Speaking to Variety, the actor spoke about the kind of voice he was going to have in the Illumination film, explaining that it isn't going to sound anything like Charles Martinet's iconic version.
"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," he told the publication.
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"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."
Producer Chris Meledandri recently addressed the casting controversy, stating: "Chris was cast because we felt he could give a great performance as Mario.
"And now that we've done about 15 recording sessions, and the movie is three-quarters done, I sit here and say that I love his performance as Mario."
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The animated movie features a starry voice cast beyond just Pratt, with Jack Black as Bowser, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Keegan Michael-Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.
We don't know what the story is going to be, especially since Super Mario games are usually light on plot, but we wouldn't be surprised if it involved Princess Peach getting kidnapped.
The Super Mario Bros. film is expected to be released on April 7, 2023 in the US.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer and resident Welsh person at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016.
In his time he's covered a host of live events, interviewed celebrities big and small and crowbarred a countless amount of great/awful (delete as appropriate) puns into articles.
A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe's main interest is in video gaming. Although particularly a PlayStation gamer, he plays across Xbox, Nintendo and PC/Steam Deck, and likes to keep tabs on many games he's not got the time to play.
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