Chris Pratt was nervous to voice Mario, says the pressure was on to not ruin people’s childhoods
Chris Pratt has caught a ton of heat for playing Mario in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie. The reveal of Pratt as Mario led to all sorts of vitriol on social media, and while some of that has subsided by this point, there’s still plenty of people who aren’t sure Pratt is the right person to bring Mario to life on the silver screen.
Pratt wasn’t ignorant to how fans would react to his casting. It was that reaction that gave the actor a bit of trepidation in taking on the role. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pratt opened up about the pressure on him and everyone else to make not just a great movie, but one that respected the franchise and fans alike.
“It makes sense, I was pretty nervous when they offered it to me. I thought, ‘Wow, let’s not screw this up.’ That’s where it all comes from, I think. People are passionate about this character and they’ve probably seen some of their favorite IP getting screwed up. It’s kind of a cynical business. People make movies just because a title has reach.”
…So it’s a big challenge. Just because something has reach doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good movie and there’s instances of people making bad movies and ruining people’s childhoods. So the pressure was on to not do that and, thankfully, we didn’t. I think the movie is fantastic and I think your childhood is firmly intact.”
[Chris Pratt]
