Charles Martinet Discusses Voicing Gaming's Most Iconic Character: "I Dream As Mario"

Issue 222? That was ages ago, really up to date news here.

Waiting on my Issue 228 of Retrogamer, even though it says delivered. Seems like their delivery service for subscribers is getting worse and worse. Last year, had to get three issues re-delivered as they never got delivered.

Martinet, in the Mario movie, but not as Mario (or Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby mario, Baby luigi...etc)

I'm really glad that someone like Martinet who fully embraces and and loves his career as the voice of Mario and Co, is the man with the job. Clearly the man is a fan to say the least.

He was robbed of the lead role for the new movie. Martinet is a humble class act, and a genuinely smart and funny man.

Let's give him his flowers while he's here ❤

Doubtless, his passion for the Mario cast has given his role the longevity it’s had. No doubt in my mind there may very well have been various Mario VA’s since the 90’s otherwise.

He gets paid well for this job.

I honestly believe he will voice Wario in the upcoming movie.

I really hope they give him something good to do in the movie.

Though, I still maintain that he should have been playing Mario. Others have said that his Mario voice would get annoying over the course of a feature film. But he is a good actor with range (Paarthunax in Skyrim is as far from Mario as you can get) so I'd say he definitely could have adjusted the performance to work in a different medium. I have much less faith in Chris Pratt.

@Splodge He certainly could have have modulated the voice work to meet any dialogue aesthetics, but that’s not how the system works, which leans heavily on the star power of recognized actors.

i was extremely disapoited that Charles Martinet would not voice Mario in the Ilumination Mario movie, WarioWare Gold show that Charles Martinet can voice Mario in a animated movie.

While I like his work in the games, I would never want to listen to him doing a Mario voice for a full feature length film.

Luckily they wisely chose Chris Pratt, who knows how to voice an animated character without it becoming stale or annoying. Plus he's so cool.

I was wondering, does he speak French?

Because if we ever get a new Punch-Out!!, and assuming he returns, I want Martinet to voice Gabby Jay, just like in the SNES Super Punch-Out!!

I make all sorts of Mario-y noises in my daily life. In essence I am mimicking Mr. Martinet. Good show, sir!

@Splodge yeah seems like people don't give him credit in fully voice acting a character and not just short voice clips

I am honestly surprised how many people want him to voice Mario in the movie.
The way he speaks Mario is great for the purpose and I wouldn't want anyone else to do it as long as he is available,
but in a movie, where the character might have more actual dialog, I would rather have someone I can easily understand.

With Martinets style I fear it would be kinda hard to understand what he is actually saying. This is irrelevant in the games where it is even part of the charm, but important in a movie.

This is assuming the movie has actual dialogs of course, which we don't really know for sure yet, I suppose.

@CharlieGirl,

How was he robbed, the studio wanted a more bankable stars voice in the lead role, they still gave Martinet a part in the movie, when they had no obligation to do so, no doubt because of all his begging on social media "for the studio to reach out to him", yes he's voiced all the Mario games, but that's a world apart from voicing a full movie, not sure my ears would have stood it.

@Kirgo,

Exactly, people seem to forget movies are a business as well as entertainment, the studio invests a lot of money making these things, and they want the biggest return on their investment possible.

Martinet is well known among core Nintendo fans, outside of this he is pretty unknown, so no wonder the Studio will opt for a famous star to get bums on seats as it were.

Some want Martinet because they feel he has some automatic claim on the role, but do not think it through when it comes down to what's best for the movie.

@johnvboy
I am not sure if it is really so important to have a big name as va, I think most people who watch a Mario movie will do so for other reasons.
I do agree though, that we have to think about what is best for the movie and Martinet doesn't seem like the best choice for the job, as I have already explained.

@Kirgo,

We have to look outside the core Mario fans with this one, the Movie is going to reach a much bigger global audience or has the potential to do so, and to do this you need stars voices that have a much wider mass market appeal.

Back in the day these movies were voiced by lesser known stars, but now it's much more important to have the big names, just like you would in a regular movie.

@johnvboy
I understand what you mean, but even outside of the hardcore fanbase, I imagine most people who will watch this movie do so just because it is a Mario movie and because of a (hopefully) good trailer.

Stars are great to get attention and to appear more special compared to other movies, but I imagine a Mario movie already raises enough eyebrows because of what it is. And for those who still don't care, won't care anyway.
It's more important now for trailers to create a big impact, the rest will come automatically.

I could be wrong of course, but a Mario movie seems like an exception to some of the usual rules.
Apart from that, you could still have star voice actors for roles other than Mario himself and still advertise them like that.
I also wouldn't compare this to a regular movie, as we are just talking voices and nothing else.

I don't want Martinet as Marios voice in the movie, but this is not the reason.

@Kirgo,

Star power is a big draw to most when watching any type of Movie, and having a big name linked with the project helps sales, if not why bother paying a big star in the first place.

Back in the N64 days, I used to dream as Mario too, but the voice was always Martinet's.

I always get a good chuckle when Martinet just throws so many different voices into his interviews. Makes them fun to watch/listen to.

@johnvboy
Yes, but a Mario movie already has that draw in the first place.
That is my point.
And for a regular movie, where it is more then just voice acting, you actually get the acting ability of the stars, there is, much more reason to go with stars here.

In a Mario movie you already have a huge potential draw because of what it is.
There are great voice actors apart from the usual stars and
for the few people you may draw additionally, you probably lose some because Mario doesn't sound like "he should sound".

I would agree with you for 99% of movies, just not this one.

@Kirgo its a Mario movie, with or without Martinet. The core fans are going to see it, even without the games voice actor. Very few people in the world even know who's Martinet. So the Mario aspect of the movie is already covered. Now you need as many factors possible to draw non fans, and a famous star is one, there are many Pratt fans that are going to watch it because Pratt, not mario.
Its about adding potential public.

@Kirgo,

A Mario movie will be a big draw to the core fans but you need to give the movie the widest possible appeal possible, so you still need some big names tied to the project.

@johnvboy @Zequio

I think you are underestimating the appeal of Mario.
In a way, Mario himself is a much bigger star than Pratt ever could be.
Everyone knows Mario, he is one of the most well known characters ever created. You will get the attention of more than just the core audience.
Mario is not a niche franchise, not even by Hollywood standards.

Who even counts as "core fans" btw?
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch already sold almost 40 Million, those are all just the people who like Mario games (even if just Mario Kart) and have a Switch excluding some who came from the Wii U and didn't buy again.
If we were to simply take those 40 million, then you already have 40 million people who could potentially be turned off by that wrong voice.
Most probably won't, but more people than who are attracted by Pratt? Maybe.
Than there are also some people who just hate Pratt and wouldn't watch the movie because of him...

Do we even have solid evidence that the name of a voice actor actually makes a huge difference? I am not even sure about that part, honestly.
Would a Pratt fan actually watch the movie, even though he is just a voice actor? Surely only part of them.
Lose a part of those 40 million Mario players, win some Pratt fans, which amounts to more?

If Martinet is out of question (which he is, imo), then you take a star of course. But otherwise, not sure about that.
Most people don't know who Martinet is, but one hell of a lot of people know how Mario usually sounds.

What is by far the most important will be a good trailer, since videogame movies still have a bad reputation, that needs to be overcome and for many, a good Mario movie is hard to imagine just generally. Delivering an overall good product is by far the most important part.
If not having Martinet as va for Mario helps with that, then that should be the main reason.

@Kirgo,

Take on what you are saying, but pretty sure the studio executives and director etc know what will sell a movie far more then we do, yes Mario is an iconic brand, and if you add up all the people who have played his games then say potentially they will watch this movie, just because it's Mario is a little off, as you say the movie has to be good, have a decent trailer etc, but the power of strong actors involved in the project has weight as well.

And the people that would not watch the movie because of Pratt are a very very small minority, perhaps more people would be put off by a high pitched stereotypical Italian accent, not suggesting Martinet could not play it differently, but as you say millions of people know how Mario sounds.

@GunValkyrie,

So true, I make those noises all day, and do not get paid a penny for it.

@Dethmunk people just seem to like hating on Chris Pratt these days. Not really sure what he's done to deserve it

@CharlieGirl He wasn't "robbed" of anything.