'Big Challenge'! Every Time Chris Pratt Defended 'Super Mario ...

It's a-him! Chris Pratt hasn't shied away from discussing doubts about his casting as the titular character in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. News broke in late 2021 that the Parks and Recreation alum would be voicing the beloved video game character in an animated film written by Matthew Fogel. Pratt is joined by Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), Charlie Day (Luigi), Jack Black (Bowser), Keegan-Michael Key (Toad) and more — but it was his role that sparked the most controversy. "For us, it made total sense," Aaron Horvath, who codirected the flick alongside Michael Jelenic, explained to Variety of Pratt's involvement in March 2023. "He's really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterized in our film, he's perfect for it." Horvath's comments came several months after John Leguizamo expressed his concerns about the casting decision. The comedian played Mario in the 1993 live-action movie and claimed the animated version was "going backwards" by making Pratt the star. "I'm O.G. A lot of people love the original. I did Comic-Con in New York and in Baltimore, and everyone's like, 'No, no, we love the old one, the original.' They're not feeling the new one," Leguizamo told IndieWire in November 2022. "I'm not bitter. It's unfortunate. ... For them to go backwards and not cast another [actor of color] kind of sucks." Before the movie hit theaters in April 2023, Pratt was outspoken about his take on Mario's voice and the backlash it ignited. "You don't hear him say a whole lot. And really, the video game itself doesn't truly explore the character of Mario," he said during a March 2023 interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show. "So when they wrote the script and they reached out to me about doing it, it was really about, how are we going to flesh out this character? And who is this guy? What world does he live in?" Later that month, Pratt was asked how he would respond to critics who thought he should sound "more Italian," insisting to Extra that the cartoon "honors the world" of the video games. "Come watch the movie. Go watch the movie, and then we can talk," he said. "I really think that, like, once you see the movie ... and you know what? In all honesty, I think you probably need to watch it twice. In all honesty, the answer though is, this is a passionate fanbase. It makes sense. I'm part of it. This is the soundtrack to your youth. You don't want someone to come along and cynically destroy it as a cash grab with a movie. I fully understand that. You do not want that to happen." The Guardians of the Galaxy star proudly described himself as a lover of the Nintendo classic while promoting the movie on Today ahead of its premiere, noting that he "tried a lot of different stuff" when it came to perfecting the tone of the character. "Of the multitude of options I had given them, [the studio] picked the voice," he added. "I showed up to work and did my best, and that's how I did it." Scroll down for more of Pratt's candid quotes about the Mario casting controversy:

The Moneyball star hinted at Mario's "updated" voice, telling Variety, "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."

Pratt continued: "It's an animated voiceover narrative. It's not a live-action movie. I'm not gonna be wearing a plumber suit running all over. I'm providing a voice for an animated character, and it is updated and unlike anything you've heard in the Mario world before."

"There's only a handful of things we've ever really heard Mario say. There's 'wahoo!' ... 'It's a-me! Let's-a go!' Those kind of things," Pratt said during an appearance on BBC's The One Show, explaining why he felt comfortable moving in a new direction with the character's voice. "We were trying to find a way to put that into the movie, but in a way that would be congruent with a story line of these working-class American guys from Brooklyn."

The Marvel star told Gizmodo's io9 that he understood where fans were coming from with their concern about the casting choice. "There's a passionate fan base and I'm one of the fans," he explained. "I get it. Mostly, people don't want something like this to get screwed up. They're precious about it. They're careful. And I'm grateful for that." 

He asserted that he has a deep connection to the video game, noting, "I played this game for hundreds of hours. Probably maybe 1,000 hours of my childhood. And so the sound of hitting a coin, catching a flower, hearing the score, every little detail of the movie, it was like I was hypnotized by it as a child."

Pratt put a playful spin on the controversy with an April Fool's joke. "Proud to share that I will be The Lead Voice in the upcoming film adaptation of Disney's Mickey Mouse! Get ready for it to hit the big screens in 2025!" he captioned a photo of the character shared via Instagram. 

He clarified in the comments section, "APRIL FOOLS ????."