Illumination Entertainment founder and CEO Chris Meledandri came to the defense of Chris Pratt's casting as the voice of Mario in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated film.
As reported by Variety, Meledandri addressed the Guardians of the Galaxy star's casting while speaking at Barcelona’s CineEurope event. "Chris was cast because we felt he could give a great performance as Mario," Meledandri said about Universal Pictures' adaptation of the all-time Nintendo classic. "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."
When asked to address the polarizing response from fans about the casting of a non-Italian actor like Pratt in the role of Mario, Meledandri stated his belief that the performance will be widely accepted without offending any nationality. Meledandri added that since he himself is of "Italian American heritage, [he] could make that decision without worrying about offending Italians or Italian Americans." He said, "I think we're gonna be just fine. Especially because [Pratt's] given such a strong performance."
This was not the first time that Meledandri addressed Pratt's controversial casting as Mario in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. adaptation. "Well, as an Italian American myself, I understand the comments," said Meledandri at the time. "Charlie Day, who's playing Luigi, actually comes from Italian heritage. Yeah, so that's our nod."
Mario made his debut as the hero in Nintendo's 1981 arcade classic, Donkey Kong, and went on to receive his own arcade game in 1983 with Mario Bros. However, it was the release of 1985's Super Mario Bros. that coincided with the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that took the world by storm. The Mario games would sell millions of copies worldwide and spawned three television shows, including 1989's The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, starring wrestling icon "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario. At the peak of the franchise's popularity in 1993, Nintendo co-produced a live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo. Plagued by production troubles and deviating too much from the games, the movie was a critical and commercial disappointment.
As of November 2021, Nintendo producer, game director and Mario producer Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that the Super Mario Bros. film was "pretty much done." Miyamoto would go on to announce a change in the film's release date from 2022 to the spring of 2023, though he promised that it would be "well worth the wait."
Super Mario Bros. will release in North America on April 7, 2023, and in Japan on April 28, 2023.
Source: Variety