It’s a-him! Chris Pratt hasn’t shied away from discussing doubts about his casting as the titular character in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
News broke in late 2021 that the Parks and Recreation alum would be voicing the beloved video game character in an animated film written by Matthew Fogel. Pratt is joined by Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), Charlie Day (Luigi), Jack Black (Bowser), Keegan-Michael Key (Toad) and more — but it was his role that sparked the most controversy.
“For us, it made total sense,” Aaron Horvath, who codirected the flick alongside Michael Jelenic, explained to Variety of Pratt’s involvement in March 2023. “He’s really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterized in our film, he’s perfect for it.”
Horvath’s comments came several months after John Leguizamo expressed his concerns about the casting decision. The comedian played Mario in the 1993 live-action movie and claimed the animated version was “going backwards” by making Pratt the star.
“I’m O.G. A lot of people love the original. I did Comic-Con in New York and in Baltimore, and everyone’s like, ‘No, no, we love the old one, the original.’ They’re not feeling the new one,” Leguizamo told IndieWire in November 2022. “I’m not bitter. It’s unfortunate. … For them to go backwards and not cast another [actor of color] kind of sucks.”
Before the movie hit theaters in April 2023, Pratt was outspoken about his take on Mario’s voice and the backlash it ignited. “You don’t hear him say a whole lot. And really, the video game itself doesn’t truly explore the character of Mario,” he said during a March 2023 interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “So when they wrote the script and they reached out to me about doing it, it was really about, how are we going to flesh out this character? And who is this guy? What world does he live in?”
Later that month, Pratt was asked how he would respond to critics who thought he should sound “more Italian,” insisting to Extra that the cartoon “honors the world” of the video games.
“Come watch the movie. Go watch the movie, and then we can talk,” he said. “I really think that, like, once you see the movie … and you know what? In all honesty, I think you probably need to watch it twice. In all honesty, the answer though is, this is a passionate fanbase. It makes sense. I’m part of it. This is the soundtrack to your youth. You don’t want someone to come along and cynically destroy it as a cash grab with a movie. I fully understand that. You do not want that to happen.”
The Guardians of the Galaxy star proudly described himself as a lover of the Nintendo classic while promoting the movie on Today ahead of its premiere, noting that he “tried a lot of different stuff” when it came to perfecting the tone of the character. “Of the multitude of options I had given them, [the studio] picked the voice,” he added. “I showed up to work and did my best, and that’s how I did it.”
Scroll down for more of Pratt’s candid quotes about the Mario casting controversy: