Illumination Defends Casting Chris Pratt in the Mario Movie

Plus Hawkeye's director talks seasonal influences on the Marvel show.

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Mario throws his cap across a street in New Donk City, in a scene from Super Mario Odyssey.
New Donk City’s finest doesn’t deserve this.
Image: Nintendo

Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel’s Nocterra is coming to Netflix. The third Trolls movie is getting a limited theater run before it goes on-demand next year. Plus, what’s coming in Dexter: New Blood. Spoilers, away!

Image for article titled Illumination Defends Casting Chris Pratt in the Mario Movie
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Super Mario Bros.

In conversation with Too Fab, Illumination producer Chris Meledandri stated he believes Chris Pratt’s performance as Mario is “phenomenal”, adding that he also “understands” the backlash his casting has received.

All I can tell you is the voice that he’s doing for us, and Mario, is phenomenal. Yeah I can’t wait for people to hear it.

Well, as an Italian American myself, I understand. You know, I understand the comments. Charlie Day, who’s playing Luigi, actually comes from Italian heritage. Yeah so that’s our nod.

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Trolls 3

According to Screen Rant, Trolls 3 will debut exclusively in theaters November 17, 2023 “for 17 days” before arriving on PVOD.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home

A tie-in Hyundai commercial sees Spider-Man hitching a ride with Ned in a field of Mysterio scarecrows. In a Hyundai of course, otherwise this would all be quite silly.

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The Darkness of the Road

Relatedly, a woman who picks up a hitchhiker learns they’re now being chased by monsters in the trailer for The Darkness of the Road.


An Unquiet Grave

Elsewhere, a ritual to bring a man’s wife back from the dead goes awry in the trailer for An Unquiet Grave.


Dead Boy Detectives

Variety reports George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri and Kassius Nelson will star “in the three lead roles” of the Dead Boy Detectives TV series, replacing Sebastian Croft, Ty Tennant and Madalyn Horcher from the third season of Doom Patrol. Additionally, Alexander Calvert will play Thomas The Cat King while Briana Cuoco has been cast as Jenny, the “mildly punk butcher and a confidant of Crystal Palace.” Jenn Lyon will play Esther, “a witch obsessed with youth and immortality” opposite Yuyu Kitamura as Niko, “a boarding school student intent on joining the Dead Boy Detectives agency who now lives above Jenny’s butcher shop.” Ruth Connell, however, will reprise her role from Doom Patrol as Night Nurse, “a demon that controls the flow of souls in the afterlife.”

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Nocterra

According to Bloody-Disgusting, a TV series based on Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel’s comic book series, Nocterra, is in development at Atomic Monster and Netflix. The series focuses on Val Riggs, a “Ferryman” who “relays people and goods through a world enveloped by a lasting darkness that turns the living into monstrous creatures called shades.”

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Hawkeye

Speaking with /Film, Hawkeye director Rhys Thomas revealed the series is inspired by films such as Klute, Leon: The Professional and Home Alone.

Yeah, I sort of took from [Matt] Fraction [and his comic book run.] I really enjoyed the kind of ‘70s New York texture that he had. A lot of references, sort of early on when I started pulling images and sharing them with my director of photography, Eric Steelberg, came from everything. From Klute and, I remember, Thief was one and Point Blank’But then Léon: The Professional was a big one when we started defining textures. Obviously you could go back to the French New Wave as well. So that’s the pretentious answer.

But ultimately, it was really just trying to find portraits of New York and portraits of people that just had a grounded quality to them and that had a real texture of New York as well. And sort of looking at the way that New York is shown in those and an approach to action too. I would also say, on Christmas level, Die Hard and Home Alone were also that.

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Dexter: New Blood

Finally, Dexter investigates Clancy Brown’s mysterious behavior in the trailer for this week’s episode of New Blood.


Banner art by Jim Cook

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