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Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't

 
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Bruce
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 09, 2022 3:20 pm    Post subject: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't Reply with quote

Chris Pratt, is a beloved and funny actor ... until this week. Apparently he and the team at the new Mario Brothers movie decided he shouldn't do the squeaky little Italian voice the game voice creator, Charles Martinet, initiated over 30 years ago for Super Mario.

Hell hath no fury like video game fans scorned!

https://screenrant.com/super-mario-bros-movie-chris-pratt-voice-bad/

Here's a look at the original Mario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcdIqTFgWRA

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Bob Bergen
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 09, 2022 7:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Box office returns will have the final say. Personally, I have never played the game and cannot relate to the original actor’s performance. I saw the trailer for the film and from what I heard Pratt was fine. The trailer didn’t blow me away, but rarely does a trailer blow me away. My gut tells me they stayed away from the Italian accent due to today’s PC trend. And they hired Pratt due to celeb box office draw. Personally, again, I am not PC, so even if they hired a celeb I wish they chose to allow the celeb to vocally play the character as intended. If the film is a big hit, it’s another nail in the coffin for original actor casting and the PC trend.
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todd ellis
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i'm sure bob is right about the reasons (as usual). i would have liked to have seen pratt lean into the absurdity of the accent. that said, i am (probably) the least PC person on this board and think there are a lot of things on the "i'm upset about ..." list WAY higher than a silly voice on a silly movie about a silly video game.
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George
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Voices for video games change constantly since that capability started getting built into the engines and space more available. I don't recall anybody being furious when Scott Burns was replaced as the original Bowser or Isaac Marshall was the original Toad in that same series of games.

i spent too many years playing every single one of those games......

The high profile nature of it is probably part of the rage. That and people still have mixed feelings about Chris Pratt due to religious practices of his so any opportunity to dunk on him is going to take place. The fact that he didn't imitate the existing voice, to me, is refreshing. An imitation would be far more of an insult to Charles Martinet in my opinion.

Having said that, hopefully for the game franchise Charles continues to reap the success he has built from his decades as a beloved video game icon.
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Lee Gordon
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 11:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bob Bergen wrote:
o even if they hired a celeb I wish they chose to allow the celeb to vocally play the character as intended. .


To me, the obvious pc solution would be to hire an actual Italian voice actor to do the part in English. His Italian accent would just be the way he naturally speaks. No mocking of an ethnicity or cultural appropriation (not that the producers might wouldn't be accused of that anyway).
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Bob Bergen
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
To me, the obvious pc solution would be to hire an actual Italian voice actor to do the part in English. His Italian accent would just be the way he naturally speaks. No mocking of an ethnicity or cultural appropriation (not that the producers might wouldn't be accused of that anyway).


Acting is playing what you are not, not what you are closest to. I so disagree with this solution as it feeds into this PC debacle. Do we only allow a Danish actor to play Hamlet? Of course not, but that is where this pendulum is swinging. Inclusion defeats the purpose if it excludes. Being subjected to hearing a non-Italian actor play Italian is not an insult! People have accents and dialects. Portraying them by non-accented actors IS acting. It is only the over sensitive who take issue with this, and usually not by someone with the accent. People are insulted because they have become conditioned to be....and often people are insulted on behalf of others...who are not insulted.

And if we are going to demand authentic casting, how do we justify the cast of Hamilton? Which I have no problem with! But, I'm consistent. I just wish the industry was as well.
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Bruce
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 12:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This whole "he's not like the video game version" thing has been taken another step into the ridiculous... some folks are complaining that the movie Mario's butt isn't as big as it is in the game. It's really big in the game because he needs it to leap so high. Holy carp.



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todd ellis
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


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scottnilsen
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Todd I am sad to say how long it took for me to get it. But i did eventually.
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Bob Bergen
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

todd ellis wrote:


THAT is great!!!!
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Lee Gordon
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bob Bergen wrote:
Acting is playing what you are not, not what you are closest to. I so disagree with this solution as it feeds into this PC debacle.


I agree with you, but unfortunately, this where we're at. I'm probably not going to ever get more business doing my German accented "Professor Einstein/Ludwig von Drake" type character. Just be grateful that (so far) nobody is insisting Porky can be played only by an actual pig.
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Lee Gordon
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bruce wrote:
some folks are complaining that the movie Mario's butt isn't as big as it is in the game.


Oh, great. Another job for one of the Kardashians.
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Bob Bergen
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lee Gordon wrote:
Bob Bergen wrote:
Acting is playing what you are not, not what you are closest to. I so disagree with this solution as it feeds into this PC debacle.


I agree with you, but unfortunately, this where we're at. I'm probably not going to ever get more business doing my German accented "Professor Einstein/Ludwig von Drake" type character. Just be grateful that (so far) nobody is insisting Porky can be played only by an actual pig.


This is only where we are at if we throw in the towel. That I will never do. Got too much integrity for right and wrong. If you fear you will never voice German again you have nothing to lose by fighting this.
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