Donald Glover Jokes He’d Be ‘Surprised’ If ‘Super Mario Galaxy’ Yoshi Role Doesn’t Earn Oscar Nod

Donald Glover, remarkably, has managed to tuck in a reference to Daniel Day-Lewis amid the press tour for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

In the film, which hits theaters in the U.S. today (April 1), Glover voices Yoshi, everyone’s favorite green sidekick. During a recent red carpet interview, per Reuters, the two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy winner jokingly expressed that he would be “surprised” if his performance in the surefire Nintendo hit didn’t net him an Oscar nomination.

“I’ll be surprised if I if I’m not nominated for an Oscar for this,” Glover said, as seen below. “It’d be really strange because the spectrum of what I’m doing in this is pretty, I don’t want to say Daniel Day-Lewisesque, but it’s kind of in that range. But I think the spectrum of doing the Yoshi noises, I think, is good. I think I did a good enough job.”

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Glover added that he “focused really hard” on the process of disappearing into the role, pointing to the fact that his voice wasn’t immediately recognized as a sign that he nailed it.

“That made me happy,” he said. “It’s been a blast. Like, I just feel like I’ve actually pushed myself, I think, in a new direction. I’ve never had to work so hard. … There’s a pressure to be iconic and make this something that the fans will enjoy too. So I felt good about that.”

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, a sequel to 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is led by Chris Pratt as Mario and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach. Fans can also expect to hear Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr., Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Issa Rae as the Honey Queen, and more.

Elsewhere on the ensuing press tour, Glover spoke briefly about where he’s at these days in his musical journey. While it still sounds like the Childish Gambino moniker is indeed done for now, Glover, who last released an album under that name in 2024 (Bando Stone & the New World), recently told Entertainment Tonight he’s open to publicly releasing more music if he makes something he believes “people should hear.”