Chris Pratt warns his Mario voice is ‘unlike anything you’ve heard’

polygon.com:

The world continues to be baffled at the casting of Chris Pratt as Mario in Illumination’s animated movie adaptation of the classic Nintendo games. Now Pratt has said his voice performance will be “updated and unlike anything you’ve heard in the Mario world before,” which is unlikely to set many minds at rest.

Speaking to Variety, Pratt revealed he’d had to experiment to find the right approach to playing the iconic plumber. “I worked really closely with the directors and trying out a few things and landed on something that I’m really proud of and can’t wait for people to see and hear,” he said.

Pratt’s comments come just a few days after Chris Meledandri — the film’s co-producer, with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and the founder of Illumination, the Minions animation studio — defended Pratt’s performance to Deadline. “When people hear Chris Pratt’s performance, the criticism will evaporate, maybe not entirely — people love to voice opinions, as they should,” Meledandri said.

He also referred to some critics’ worry that Pratt putting on an Italian accent in the role might be offensive to people of Italian descent. “I’m not sure this is the smartest defense, but as a person who has Italian-American heritage, I feel I can make that decision without worrying about offending Italians or Italian-Americans. … I think we’re going to be just fine,” Meledandri said.

Fan reaction to Pratt’s casting has been pretty negative, whether due to his personal politics, his replacement of Mario’s longstanding video game voice actor Charles Martinet, his status as the internet’s “worst Chris,” or the gulf between his recent image as the stoic, hunky action star of the Jurassic World films and that of the portly, diminutive plumber Mario.