• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
John Leguizamo hits out at new Mario movie's 'all-white' lead cast

Home> Film & TV

Published 18:56 14 Oct 2022 GMT+1

John Leguizamo hits out at new Mario movie's 'all-white' lead cast

The actor, who played Luigi in the 1993 Mario Bros movie, has hit out at the new animated film for its lack of diversity

Tom Sanders

Tom Sanders

Actor John Leguizamo has taken shots at the upcoming Super Mario Bros film, taking to social media to criticise the cast of the animated adaptation for being 'too white'.

Leguizamo played Luigi in the infamous 1993 live action Super Mario Bros film, alongside Bob Hoskins.

And last month, the 62-year-old actor and comedian penned his thoughts on the project following the release of the latest trailer, saying while he was excited for the movie, he was disappointed by the lack of diversity in the casting.

Advert

He also expressed regret that nobody from the studio had reached out to him during its production.

"So glad #SuperMarioBros is getting a reboot! Obviously, it's iconic enuff. But too bad they went all white! No Latinx in the leads! Groundbreaking color-blind casting in original!" he tweeted.

"Plus I'm the only one who knows how to make this movie work script-wise!" he added, before posting three screenshots of himself and Hoskins from the 1993 film.

Advert

He then told viewers in the captions to: “Apologize to this movie right now!"

To be fair to Leguiziamo, he’s far from the only one to criticise Nintendo’s decision to cast Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as the Italian plumbers instead of longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet, who’s voiced the duo since 1992.

John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins in the 1993 Super Mario Bros.
Buena Vista Pictures

Reaction to Pratt’s performance in particular has been mixed, with fans criticising the Marvel actor’s flat delivery in contrast to Martinet’s colourful, cartoonish performance.

Advert

Following the trailer reveal, Star Trek actress Mica Burton said: “Okay the animation for the Mario movie looks gorgeous and I’m looking forward to seeing what the plot of this is but good lord I CANNOT get past the fact that Chris Pratt is just using his normal ass voice JUST HIS NORMAL ASS VOICE FOR MARIO”

“Everything in the mario trailer works except for mario” tweeted another user, while a third added: “You can hear Mario just by looking at him, knowing what Mario sounds like, anticipating him to speak and just hearing a normal guy voice is unnerving lmao."

Chris Meledandri, CEO of animation studio Illumination, told Variety Pratt was cast because: “We felt he could give a great performance as Mario. And now that we’ve done about 15 recording sessions, and the movie is three-quarters done, I sit here and say that I love his performance as Mario."

While he’s no longer around to share his views on the new movie, it’s hard to imagine Bob Hoskins would’ve enjoyed it.

Advert

The actor, who died in 2014, once told The Guardian was performance as Mario was the 'worst thing' he ever did.

"The worst thing I ever did? Super Mario Brothers. It was a f***in' nightmare. The whole experience was a nightmare," he told the outlet in 2007.

"It had a husband-and-wife team directing, whose arrogance had been mistaken for talent. After so many weeks their own agent told them to get off the set! F***in' nightmare. F***in' idiots," Hoskins added.

Fans weren't impressed when they heard Chris Pratt's take on Mario.
Universal Pictures

Advert

Leguiziamo meanwhile has much more positive memories of the movie. During an interview on the film’s anniversary, the actor said that despite the 'mistakes' made in the production, he was proud to have been part of the first-ever video game movie.

“It was one of the first video game movies, so it was tough. It was a first, nobody had ever done it before, and they didn’t really know how to go about it so we were pioneers," he said.

“We made a lot of great things, we made a lot of mistakes but I’m proud of the movie in retrospect."

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected] 

Featured Image Credit: John Palmer/Media Punch/Alamy Live News/Nintendo/Illumination

Topics: Super Mario, Film and TV, Chris Pratt

Tom Sanders
Tom Sanders

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

an hour ago
5 hours ago
6 hours ago
8 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    248 million hour Netflix binge sees viewers watch all three seasons of number one show in a week

    The return of this Netflix drama has delighted fans

    Film & TV
  • 5 hours ago

    Woman reveals how she got 'perfect revenge' on cheating ex who was using her Netflix account

    The Redditor shared her genius way of getting back at her unfaithful spouse, and it's actually quite simple

    Film & TV
  • 6 hours ago

    One of Netflix's most watched series is being called a '10/10' by 'disaster' fans

    The Netflix series has been viewed more than 50 million times in just 19 days

    Film & TV
  • 8 hours ago

    Netflix viewers 'hooked' by forgotten drama that has perfect Rotten Tomatoes score

    The TV series has five seasons to date with the first releasing in 2015

    Film & TV
  • Rashida Jones says ‘every single’ member of Parks and Rec cast would be up for a reboot
  • Harry Potter fans are pointing out major issue after seeing who HBO has cast as the Dursleys in new series
  • Chris Pratt reveals the one Parks and Recreation joke he 'put his foot down' on and refused to do
  • Wes Anderson's top 5 movies of all time have been decided after new release is described as 'unlike any other'