Keegan-Michael Key on how he found Toad’s voice for The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Toad is one of the key characters in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Keegan-Michael Key – who plays the character – has now discussed how he found the voice for the role.

In a Fandango interview, Key talked about how he was looking to “almost pretend like I was sucking on a helium balloon while I was doing the recording.” Here’s what he shared:

“The director and I, I was working with my partner and like acting coach on the work and I was channeling actually a friend of mine and the way that he sees the world, and the way that he kind of looks at things… We brought that to the director, and then the voice was – we knew it would be higher in a higher register, so part of what I wanted to do was hit the syntax but almost pretend like I was sucking on a helium balloon while I was doing the recording. At least thinking helium and trying to get the sound a little more like pinching the sound… and then he would go, ‘Higher.’

… Trying to get as high as we could and still have a certain comfort level within the voice. … It was a really fun, exploratory experience to try to find the right spot and try to get those rhythms in a place where it felt like it would be Toad, but kind of a new version of Toad at the same time. So that was the process.”

The full cast interview for The Super Mario Bros. Movie can be found below. Aside from Key, it also features Chris Pratt (who plays Mario), Seth Rogen (Donkey Kong), Jack Black (Bowser), and Charlie Day (Luigi).

The Super Mario Bros. Movie will hit theaters on April 5, 2023. Find the most recent trailer that came out this week here.