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Perhaps one of the most eye-catching revelations of last night’s Nintendo Direct was the release of the cast list for the upcoming animated Mario film. Fascinatingly, Guardians of the Galaxy’s Chris Pratt has, for some reason, been chosen to step into Mario’s dungarees.
The all-star cast doesn’t stop with Mario, however. Charlie Day (of Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame) will be voicing Luigi, The Queen’s Gambit’s Anya Taylor-Joy will be playing Peach, Bowser will be played by Jack Black, and Donkey Kong will be played by Seth Rogan – Because of course he will be.
The film will also feature Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), Cranky Kong (Fred Armisen), Kamek (Kevin Michael Richardson) and Spike (Sebastian Maniscalco). Additionally, Mario’s gaming voice actor, Charles Martinet, will have a cameo in the film.
In an Instagram video, Pratt said that playing Mario was a ‘dream come true.’ Pratt is apparently having much stranger dreams than we are.
“You’ll have to wait to hear the voice [of Mario],” said Pratt, “but we’ve been working hard at it and I’m really excited to announce that I’m going to be the voice of that video game that I dreamed about playing as a kid.”
Nintendo gave the film’s release window at Holiday 2022, with a more specific US release date of December 21st, 2022.
The film is being produced in partnership with Illumination, and was first announced back in 2018, and will mark the first Mario film since the 1993 ‘classic’, Super Mario Bros. The film will be directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, while the script comes from The Lego Movie 2’s Matthew Fogel.
“We are collaborating with Chris and his experienced team to not just create a character licensed film, but a new piece of entertainment which brings Super Mario Bros. to life on the screen, and allows everyone to enjoy whether or not they know about the game” said Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto.
“The production so far is constructive and going very well, and both parties are learning a lot from each other. We humbly ask that fans wait just a little longer for the premiere, and we hope they look forward to seeing the unique characters from Super Mario Bros. on the big screen.”
