MOVIE NEWS – Chris Pratt’s casting as Mario in Super Mario Bros. has caused a minor storm, but producer Chris Meledandri says he’ll end up winning over fans.

The announcement that Chris Pratt will star in the new Super Mario Bros. animated film has received a mixed response and led to several memes, complete with Pratt’s face and “It’s-a-me, Mario” tags. However, the film’s co-producer Chris Meledandri has come to the cast’s defence, insisting that the actor’s voice is not a parody of an Italian accent and that fans should hang up their pants because they will be blown away by his performance when the film is released.

Illumination has been the driving force behind some of the most prominent animated franchises outside Disney and Pixar. Meledandri is the producer of the Gru franchise, which is still going strong today, as are other films from their workshop. Will Super Mario Bros. be another huge success? Meledandri is certainly not worried that the initial outcry on the internet will last until the film is finally released.

“All I can tell you is the voice that he’s doing for us, and Mario, is phenomenal,” the producer said.

“Yeah I can’t wait for people to hear it. As an Italian American myself, I understand. You know, I understand the comments. Charlie Day, who’s playing Luigi, actually comes from Italian heritage. Yeah, so that’s our nod.”

The producer explained that Mario’s expected accent would be treated as an inside joke as part of the film. “We cover it in the movie. So you’ll see we definitely nod to that. That’s not the tenor of the performance throughout the film”. He also said that once everyone sees the Chris Pratt performance, they’ll have a very different take on it.

Not everything is what it seems, as Meledandri points out concerning Chris Pratt’s Mario. Pratt himself probably isn’t too worried about the comments; he’s probably used to the online backlash anyway, as in addition to his return in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Jurassic World: Dominion, the actor, has also been cast as Garfield in a new film about the lasagne-loving feline, sparking a similar wave of disapproval from fans who would rather see Bill Murray reprise his role as the iconic feline.

Source: Too Fab