John Leguizamo Says 1993 Super Mario Movie Cast Real Strippers and Disney Was Not Hap

Publish date: 2024-07-28

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is heading toward $1 billion at the worldwide box office, which is a far cry from the disastrous fate that met the first attempt to bring the Nintendo video game franchise to life. The live-action “Super Mario Bros.” movie in 1993 crashed and burned at the box office, grossing less than $40 million worldwide. Many Mario fans found the film too dark and adult-oriented, but Luigi actor John Leguizamo recently told GQ magazine in a video interview that what they shot was far darker than what was released.

“[The directors] had this dark, dark vision that Disney was not okay with so there was all this butt-heading that was incredible,” Leguizamo said. “That party scene? Those were all strippers from North Carolina that they put on the set and they had them in the most revealing clothes and costumes.”

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“Disney was not happy” Leguizamo added. “They had to cut a lot of it, blow it out, CGI it with whatever bad technology they had back in the day.”

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The 1993 live-action movie was helmed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, whose directing careers nosedived because of the film’s failure. The filmmakers recently told Variety their movie had “a certain quirkiness that didn’t fit in nicely with the Hollywood scene at the time.”

“We were never, ever trying to recreate the original game,” Jankel said. “Otherwise, we would have made the animated film.”

After not seeing “Super Mario Bros.” for nearly 30 years, the two directors attended a March screening at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles that “washed away the stain” of the movie bombing.

“My thought was that there would be 10 or 20 people there,” Morton told Variety. “But it was jam-packed. There were people queueing up around the block for extra tickets. [The audience was] laughing and clapping at all the right places. They weren’t doing it ironically; it was genuine.”

Leguizamo has routinely criticized the new animated “Super Mario Bros. Movie” for its lack of diversity among the cast.

“No I will not [be watching],” told TMZ just ahead of the film’s opening weekend. “They could’ve included a Latin character. Like I was groundbreaking and then they stopped the groundbreaking. They messed up the inclusion. They dis-included. Just cast some Latin folk! We’re 20% of the population. The largest people of color group and we are underrepresented.”

When asked again by TMZ if he would be watching the movie, Leguizamo answered: “Hell no!”

Speaking to IndieWire in November, Leguizamo said “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is “backwards” for having two white actors voice Mario and Luigi. Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voice the mustachioed plumbers in the animated film.

“I’m O.G. A lot of people love the original,” Leguizamo said when asked for his thoughts on the Chris Pratt-starring new Mario movie. “I did Comic-Con in New York and in Baltimore, and everyone’s like, ‘No, no, we love the old one, the original.’ They’re not feeling the new one. I’m not bitter. It’s unfortunate.”

In a new interview with IndieWire, Leguizamo was asked about the chances of him joining the animated franchise in the inevitable “Super Mario Bros. Movie” sequel. His answer: “If they start to do the right thing and add more inclusivity, I’d consider it.”

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is now playing in theaters nationwide. Watch Leguizamo’s full interview with GQ in the video below.

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