Mario fans are used to the character uttering his signature phrase: a very Italian-sounding “Mamma Mia!” Chris Pratt, who voiced the character in 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and who will return for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” told ScreenRant that some might be surprised that the phrase sounds a little different in the new movie.
Pratt was asked by the outlet what he spends the most effort on for his character. He answered, “A lot of getting hit, jumping, bouncing around, and things like that. There’s one sound … I don’t necessarily know if it would be an effort sound, but it’s a line, which is – I’m not going to say it right now because I haven’t done all my vocal warmups,” he began.
“I don’t want to do it, but it’s ‘Mamma Mia!’ It’s ‘Mamma Mia.’ And when you hear that original version of the character, it’s in Italian,” he continued. “It’s like, [high pitched] ‘Mamma Mia!’ And I’m like, ‘Why does it make sense for a guy who’s from Brooklyn who doesn’t have that accent to use that so much?’”
He added, “So it was always tough. They’re like, ‘It’s written as ‘Mamma Mia.” But I’m like, if I’m expressing some reverence or some sense of, ‘Oh wow, Mamma Mia.’ But that’s not something necessarily a person says unless they’re doing the Italian accent. So it’s always really hard to find how ‘Mamma Mia’ works.”
Pratt added that he likes to vary how the sound comes out. “I think that’s maybe why they slowed it down to take some of the stink off it because I’m not sure I ever fully got it right, but it’s like, ‘Maaammaaa Miaaaa.’”
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” will debut in theaters on April 1.
