Keegan-Michael Key Talks The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Spin-off Ideas, If He’d Return for a Video Game
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie star Keegan-Michael Key spoke with ComingSoon editor-in-chief Tyler Treese about the hit film. Key discussed finding his Toad voice, what he finds fulfilling about the role, and if he’d return for a video game. The Super Galaxy Movie is available now to own on Digital and will be released physically on 4K and Blu-ray on June 16.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie finds Mario and Luigi solving everyday problems in the Mushroom Kingdom with their ‘let’s-a-go’ attitude. They meet a new friend in Yoshi, try to reform a miniaturized Bowser, and eagerly look forward to Peach’s birthday party. A call for help sends the crew across the galaxy to face new worlds, unexpected threats, and iconic characters like Rosalina and Bowser Jr,” says the official description.
Tyler Treese: You’re not a voice actor who just uses your natural voice all the time. With Toad, your voice is higher pitch, there’s a bit of a scratchiness to it. It’s a fun evolution of what we hear in the game. So how was that process of finding your Toad voice? Were there different iterations?
Keegan-Michael Key: The funny thing is we found the voice and then the majority of the notes that we collaborated on during the process was how nasally did we want ’em to be and how high pitched. And eventually it got to a place where as we were exploring the tones, the directors were like, “Can you get higher?” And I was like, “I’ll try,” and then eventually we realized I wouldn’t be able to sustain the voice for a full session. So we just found a happy medium. That was one of my most favorite creative endeavors in regard to collaborating with someone while creating a character that I really have had in my whole career. I really loved finding him.
And then when you do a second movie, part of the joy is getting back into the pocket. Does that make sense, Tyler? Like, it’s like putting on a wonderful, familiar, comfortable pair of shoes. And then you get to collaborate on an even different level, because now once you lock that in, you go, is there something else we wanna learn about Toad? Is there another way for him to be interesting, helpful, funny? How can he drive the plot forward? You know, you can start focusing even more on that.
I wanted to ask you about the reaction that you get from these films, because I feel like there’s two cool levels. First, you get the kids who love these movies and just get pure joy from them. But then you get the adults and the older fans that are probably surprised that it’s you, they probably don’t know is you voicing Toad until they see the credits. I imagine that’s really gratifying. What’s that about? Just the reaction to these two films?
It is one of the most gratifying things. I don’t wanna speak for other actors, I’ll just speak for myself. If someone doesn’t know it’s you, that is, to me, one of the greatest compliments you could possibly get. If they don’t know it’s your voice and you know that they’re not affecting your voice, that you might have done something special.
That’s what I’m going for when I do voice work. That’s the challenge. And the other thing that I really enjoy is that people like it and are accepting that. “Okay, so that’s what Toad sounds like.” There’s not a lot to go on in regard to the game. There’s some homage to that, but it is almost altogether its own creation. And that’s fun too, to be able to create. Creating is what we do.
The other fun thing, Tyler, is just the nostalgia. That the nostalgia brings them joy and it brings them joy in a very specific way. When I talk to people, they always have a very particular story to tell you about when I was 12 or I snuck downstairs, or me and my best friends at my birthday. It’s really great. It’s really, really fulfilling.
Is the dream to get the reprise this role even further and be in a video game?
Keegan-Michael Key: Oh, yeah. I’d be more than happy. If they now fashioned a video game that was somehow influenced or inspired by the movies, I would be all in. I would love to do that. And by the way, and also if they made a Toad origin story or the Mushroom Kingdom raising Peach to be who she is, I’d be open to that. I’d be open to anything in regard to this universe. I love the team that I work with. I love the other talented, gifted performers that are in the movies. I’m all in, man. I’m all in.
You know, there’s the Captain Toad game as well. And I feel like that’s just the perfect setup for like a TV show. Just little adventures for Toad.
Yeah. From your mouth to God’s ears [laughs].
You guys all record separately. So what is it like when you’re on the press tour and suddenly Donald Glover, who they convinced to say Yoshi like 500 times, is suddenly there and you have this stacked cast that you haven’t really interacted with? What’s that like?
It’s actually very fun because it’s almost like… I just made this up right now. It’s like having a phantom reunion. You know what I mean? It’s like a high school reunion with people that you went to school with online. I guess maybe it’s how kids would feel going to school during COVID, you know what I mean? It’s like, “Hey, you were my classmate, but I’d never met you before.” And it’s interesting, a lot of us have known each other from other iterations of our lives, other parts of our lives. And so, but it is like a strange kind of ethereal reunion in a way.
And then also what brings you together more is that most of us, I’m sure maybe even all of us had seen the film before we went on the press tour. And then you now get the opportunity to say the other person, “Oh, I loved what you did with this,” or, “I’m so glad, I was so cool that you made that choice. Oh, I thought your performance was so wonderful here, da da da da da.” It’s that opportunity to finally laud other people for the great work they’ve done.
Thanks to Keegan-Michael Key for taking the time to talk about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Source: Comingsoon.net