The announcement that Chris Pratt would be leading the new animatedSuper Mario Bros.moviewas met with a mixed reaction, and led to many memes full of Pratt’s face and “It’s-a-me, Mario” tags. However, the movie’s co-producer Chris Meledandri has jumped to the defense of the casting, insisting that the actor’s voice is not a thick-accented parody of the Italian accent and fans should be ready to be blown away by the performance when the film is released. Strong words in the face of strong backlash, and only time will tell which one wins the day, but the Illumination founder and CEO certainly believes that they are backing a winner.
Illumination have been the driving force behind some of the biggest franchises in animation outside of Disney and Pixar, and Meledandri has produced theDespicable Mefranchise, which is still going strong, as well as putting out hits such asThe Secret Life of PetsandSing, so they do have an excellent track record on what strikes a chord with audiences and critics. So will theSuper Mario Bros.prove to be another monster hit? Meledandri certainly has no worries on the initial internet unrest being around when the film finally releases.
“All I can tell you is the voice that he’s doing for us, and Mario, is phenomenal,” the producer said. “Yeah I can’t wait for people to hear it. As an Italian American myself, I understand. You know, I understand the comments.Charlie Day, who’s playing Luigi, actually comes from Italian heritage. Yeah, so that’s our nod.”
Like many acting roles, and voice acting in particular, there is a current trend for any role not played by a like for like actor to bring out a strong opinion on social media, which crosses all aspects of character from gender, to race and even down to native accent, but in the case of someone like Mario,an Italian charactercreated by a Japanese company who became a huge American icon, the role is being played by an actor, who will be acting out the part and it seems as simple as that to Meledandri.
The producer went on to explain that the expected accent of Mario is something that will be addressed as part of the movie as a self-referencing joke. “We cover it in the movie. So you’ll see we definitely nod to that. That’s not the tenor of the performance throughout the film.” He also said that once everyone sees theChris Prattperformance, they will not be so quick to tear it down and look to cancel it. “I don’t think so. I think they’ll have to see it.”
Over the years there have been many cases of actors’ performances being judged long before they appear on screen, from Heath Ledger’s Joker to the upcomingThe Batmanwith Robert Pattinson in the lead role. Additionally, Hollywood have on occasion been known to include certain things as an in joke about the industry, such as Karen Gillan’s “in-game” outfit inJumanji: Welcome To the Junglewhich became caught up in a storm for being skimpy and objectifying, but was purposely done and referenced in the movie as an inside dig at game developers.
Appearances are not always what they seem, as Meledandri suggests aboutChris Pratt’s Mario. Pratt himself will probably not be too worried about the comments and will be getting used to a bit of online backlash, as along with his returns inGuardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3andJurassic World: Dominion, the actor has also been cast as the voice of Garfield in a new movie based on the lasagna-loving feline, which also brought a wave of disapproval from fans who called for Bill Murray to return to role instead. This story originated atToo Fab.
