Justice Smith shares a story about learning how to pronounce Pokemon for the Detective Pikachu movie

Justice Smith plays Tim Goodman in Detective Pikachu, and he did some preparation for the role. While Smith was a fan of Pokemon, he wasn't quite sure how to pronounce it. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Smith explains the process he went through to learn the correct pronunciation.

"I was a big fan of the franchise growing up. Pokemon Gold was one of the first games I got...and I watched the anime. But in prep for this movie, I actually re-watched the anime. I went back to the very beginning, the first two episodes. In the first two episodes, in the American dub, they say 'Poke-uh-mon,' 'Poke-uh-mon'

So I went to set, told everybody 'This is how you say it, Poke-uh-mon' and everyone was like, 'Alright, dope, so we're going to shoot it from now on saying 'Poke-uh-mon.' Then Ken Watanabe comes on set one day and pulls [Director] Rob Letterman aside, and he says, 'Do you want me to say it how everyone else is saying it, or do you want me to say it right?' But it's 'Poke-eh-mon.' That was a very humbling moment."