With The Super Mario Bros. Movie finally making its theatrical run as of Wednesday, we can all but confirm that Chris Pratt has fulfilled the prophecy that fans first shouted out back when we got that initial teaser; indeed, among other gripes such as its near-non-existent plot and negligent characterization, Pratt’s performance as the portly plumber didn’t go over terribly well with critics, and there seems to be no love lost for Charlie Day‘s turn as Mario’s green-clad brother, either.
In fairness, very few people would have been able to craft something noteworthy in the space offered up by the script (Jack Black and Anya Taylor-Joy, luckily, were two such people), and this is perhaps best evidenced by the fact that Pratt and Day veered into Scorsese territory when scheming up voices for Italian duo.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Day remarked how, when first toying with Luigi’s voice, he was told to tone down what was apparently a Goodfellas-inspired drawl.
“We tried different things, different voices. Every now and then they would say, ‘Charlie, maybe a little less Goodfellas in this one’ — I’m like, ‘Alright! I think you’re wrong, but fine!’ — until they landed on something they liked.”
And Pratt must have gotten the same memo, with the Guardians of the Galaxy star revealing that his early voice was reminiscent of Tony Soprano.
“For a minute, I walked in and they were like, ‘That’s a little New Jersey. You’re doing a Tony Soprano thing.”
Of course, now we’re left with the question of whether Mario and Luigi having Tommy DeVito vibes would have improved the film or not, but after seeing it struggle to simply thread its admittedly fun-filled set pieces together, any experimentation would have been welcome.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now playing in theaters.