Yesterday came the surprise announcement of the voice cast of Illumination Entertainment’s new animated “Super Mario Bros.” feature.
The film has been in the works for sometime and is on track for a Christmas 2022 release, but the voice cast had been under wraps until yesterday when it was revealed Jack Black is playing Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key is Toad, Seth Rogen is Donkey Kong, Charlie Day is Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy is Princess Peach, and Chris Pratt is Mario.
Pratt’s casting has drawn some raised eyebrows. Despite having a history of starring in well-regarded animated features of recent times like “The LEGO Movie” and “Onward,” the actor’s hiring has drawn the most criticism on the list.
Pratt himself though, in a new video post on Instagram, has reflected on the announcement and explained how the casting ties into his own personal story:
“When I was a kid, I lived in Lake Stevens, Washington, and there’s this coin-operated laundromat near my house and it had Super Mario Bros. The original arcade game. Oh, I love that game. I never had a quarter it felt like. I’d either steal them from the wishing well [laughs]. That’s wild.
It just dawned on me right now the quarter I stole out of the wishing well to play Super Mario Bros. has come true that I get to be the voice of Mario. Clearly, I stole someone else’s wish, so I’m just waiting for that row of karma dominoes to come crashing down.
But as it is right now, it’s a me, Mario. That’s not the voice. You’ll have to wait to hear the voice, but we’ve been working really hard on it and I’m really excited to announce that I’m going to voice the video game I dreamed of playing as a kid. Dreams come true.”
Mario’s traditional voice actor, Charles Martinet, will reportedly also be involved. Chris Meledandri and Shigeru Miyamoto will produce the film.
Source: Instagram
