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There are rumors that Chris Pratt could permanently take over as the voice of Super Mario after voice actor Charles Martinet announced his retirement.
On Monday, Nintendo of America announced that the 67-year-old actor – who has voiced the animated plumber brothers Mario and Luigi in the video game series since 1991 – will take a “step back.”
In response, some fans asked if Chris Pratt – speaking of the controversy over his casting as Mario in The Super Mario Bros. 2023 movie – would take over the job.
It’s currently unknown who exactly will replace Martinet, but the statement did reveal a special video message from the creator of Super Mario and Martinet himself would come at a later date.
End of an era: Rumors are swirling that Chris Pratt (left) could take over the voice of Super Mario permanently after voice actor Charles Martinet (right) announced his retirement
Beloved Animated Character: In response, some fans asked if Chris Pratt – speaking of the controversy over his casting as Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie from 2023 – would take over the job
“We have a message for fans of the Mushroom Kingdom. Take a look,” the tweet read.
The statement began as follows: “Charles Martinet has long been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games, as far back as Super Mario 64.
“Charles now moves into the brand new role of Mario Ambassador,” it continued. “With this transition, he’s taking a step back from recording character voices for our games.”
In bittersweet news, however, the statement explained that he will continue to work with Nintendo and in the world of Mario.
It continued, “But he will continue to travel the world to share the joy of Mario and interact with all of you.
“It has been an honor to work with Charles to bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him,” the press release said.
At the end, they announced that there would be a message from Martinet and from the Japanese video game designer who created the best-selling video game for Nintendo.
“Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself,” the statement concluded.
Official statement: It is currently unknown who exactly will replace Martinet, but the statement revealed a special video message from the creator of Super Mario and Martinet himself would come at a later date.
Fan reaction: Several social media users also reacted to the news by guessing if Chris Pratt would be hired to voice Mario on a permanent basis
Replaced by Pratt? Martinet had made a cameo in the star-studded animated film starring Pratt as the beloved animated plumber. The casting choice received controversial reactions at the time
Soon after, Martinet himself shared the statement from his official account, writing a short but sweet message to his fans: ‘My new adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart!’
On the news of his retirement, many fans reached out to the voice actor on Twitter to thank him for his work and impact.
In nearly 150 Nintendo titles since 1991, Martinet has voiced Mario and recorded several of his iconic cries.
He also voiced Mario’s sidekick and brother, Luigi, as well as the duo’s arch rivals, Wario and Waluigi.
Most recently, he made a cameo in the star-studded animated film starring Pratt as Mario, as well as Anya-Taylor Joy as Princess Peach and Jack Black as Bowser.
The casting choice received controversial reactions at the time. However, many fans felt that Pratt did such a good job that he would be a good candidate to reprise the role permanently.
Several social media users also reacted to the news by guessing whether or not Pratt would be hired to voice Mario permanently from now on.
Next Mario: Some fans even made memes about how they imagine Pratt must feel with the potential opportunity on the horizon
Bittersweet: Martinet is known as the old voice actor and some fans seemed to express how disappointed they would be if he was replaced by Pratt
Open Chance: Many fans think it’s likely Pratt will be hired as the next voice actor for the next Nintendo Switch game
“I call it,” one Twitter user wrote. Chris Pratt will be the next Mario lmao.
“Hopefully they replace him with Chris Pratt,” another person wrote.
Some fans even made memes about how they imagine Pratt must feel with the potential opportunity on the horizon.
“It would be funny if they just decided to make Chris Pratt the permanent voice of Mario,” another Twitter user wrote in response to the news.
Pratt previously recalled how he had trouble finding the voice for Mario in The Super Mario Bros Movie.
His first attempt at an accent was rejected after it was too close to James Gandolfini’s accent for Tony Soprano in HBO’s iconic crime drama The Sopranos.
Pratt explained that he had very little lead on how to go about creating the character in a Zoom chat with costars Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Keegan-Michael Key and Jack Black for Weekly entertainment.
‘Are they Italians? Are they American? We know a little bit about Charles Martinet’s voice that he sprinkled in there with the “Wahoo!” and “It’s a me!” and this Mario stuff, but how do you create a 90 minute story with an emotional flow and create a living, breathing person that you care about?’ explained the action star.
“If you take out the jokes and the magic and the mushrooms and the power-ups and the coloring and the great music, it should be a pretty good drama, which is really the key to a great story.”
When he first tackled the role, Chris said he sounded a little too much like a mob boss.
“For a minute when I came in, they were like, ‘That’s a little Tony Soprano, that’s a little New Jersey, you’re doing a Tony Soprano thing.’”
For Chris, repetition was key.
“I would have one of the rules. I wouldn’t say it once,’ he explained.
“After doing it over and over, 15 different options, casual options, in my own words, different tones, and by the end they’d be so exhausted if they heard them all, that I thought, ‘Well, that’s everything. I’ve just cleared all possibilities, so can we move on?”
In March, Pratt said he understood the longtime fans of the Mario franchise were primarily interested in the character’s integrity. While discussing the animosity towards his casting.
“I totally get it, man. There is a passionate fan base and I am one of the fans. I understand. Most of the time people don’t want something like this to get screwed up. They are precious about it. They are careful. And I’m thankful for that,” he said.
The Jurassic World Dominion star went on to comment that he went to great lengths to faithfully portray the Nintendo character while working on the feature film.
The artist said, “I care as much as anyone to make sure that doesn’t get screwed up.”