Charles Martinet, the voice actor behind a whole host of characters from the Super Mario franchise including the likes of Luigi, Wario, and of course Mario himself, says that he falls asleep and dreams as the series’ signature character.
During an interview with Retro Gamer, the voice actor spoke about a number of topics, including how he came to land the role, his experiences as a voice actor, and his time working on the Netflix documentary High Score. However, when asked how he prepares for a recording session with Nintendo, Martinet’s answer seemed to perfectly capture his love and dedication to the characters that he has so successfully brought to life.
“These characters for me are always there,” explains Martinet. “I mean, I dream as Mario, flying over these lakes or over the ocean, in the moonlight, a little bit Galaxy-esque. And I sometimes dream in 2D. If I wake up in the morning and I’m having a lousy day, I’m like [Wario growl]. These voices are just alive in me, along with [sings the Super Mario Bros start jingle] [Mario] Go! So, there’s not a lot of preparation [for Nintendo].”
In addition to speaking about how he prepares for each session, Martinet also explained that his roles across different games for Nintendo would vary in terms of the time commitment and the approach to scheduling that the company would take.
“I’ve recorded two weeks… actually, one week before a game came out, and I’ve recorded three years before a game came out,” Martinet said, before going on to explain that the time spent on recording voice lines for the characters tends to vary drastically between projects. “It really depends on the game, and what’s coming next,” he says adding that Super Mario Odyssey was one of his favorite projects due to the fact that the characters “change and switch.”
While Martinet’s most recent comments once again reflect the actor’s passion and commitment to his iconic roles within the franchise, it isn’t the first time of late that he’s spoken about his love for the job. Last year, Martinet explained during a Q&A session at Fan Expo Canada: Limited Edition that he would like to continue voicing the role of Mario until he dies.
When asked by a fan how long he could see himself continuing as Mario, Martinet told the audience, “I want to voice Mario until I drop dead,” though he then further added: ‘‘If someday I think I am no longer capable of doing it, I will tell Nintendo to look into finding someone else.’’
For more news from Nintendo’s iconic franchise, make sure to check out this article detailing how actor Chris Pratt won’t be doing an Italian accent when voicing Mario in the upcoming Illumination Entertainment animated movie about the character.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
