Why Chris Pratt Got Cast as Mario
Channel: Video Game Story Time
Date: 2021-09-24

The September 2021 Nintendo Direct had a few surprises - Bayonetta 3, the immediate launch of Deltarune Chapter 2 on Switch, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on Switch - but the biggest surprise of them all came from Shigeru Miyamoto, who revealed that Chris Pratt will be the voice of Super Mario in the upcoming Illumination movie.


Plenty of the other casting choices - Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser - all make some kind of sense. The majority of Nintendo fans, though, are finding it difficult to imagine Mario sounding like Chris Pratt.


So why Chris Pratt of all people? Why not a professional voice actor, such as the also-in-the-movie Charles Martinet, Mario's voice for the past two decades? Why a movie star in the first place, rather than someone who has spent their entire career honing their voice?


The reason is: Robin Williams. After he proved a successful box office draw in Aladdin, movie studios have increasingly begun to rely on famous faces to provide their voices in cartoons.


So why Pratt specifically?


Well, because he's a safe bet. Chris Pratt pulls in box office revenue; his movies typically do very well. It's difficult to tell how much this is a self-fulfilling prophecy, with studios giving Pratt his choice of juicy roles, but one thing is certain: Chris Pratt has a proven track record with big budget animated movies. The LEGO Movie and Pixar's Onward prove this.


Chris Pratt also has experience wrangling dinosaurs, and experience stealing coins to feed an arcade addiction, so he's got all the skills he'll need to do Mario justice.


Lots of love,
BretonStripes (http://twitter.com/bretonstriped) and Kotor (http://twitter.com/kotorcomics)


Sources:



https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2015/
https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2470712/chris-pratt-really-didnt-want-to-audition-for-guardians-of-the-galaxy
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/22/chris-pratt-went-from-homeless-waiter-to-jurassic-world-star.html
https://variety.com/2021/film/spotlight/aladdin-robin-williams-1234893550/
https://www.distractify.com/p/robin-williams-disney-feud
https://insidethemagic.net/2021/05/robin-williams-refused-disney-th1/
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/09/dreams_come_true_chris_pratt_talks_about_his_new_role_as_super_mario