Super Mario Bros. Star John Leguizamo Reveals “Disney Was Not Happy” With Aspects of the Live-Action Movie

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was released in theaters earlier this month, and it has been crushing it at the box office. The animated movie has received mixed reactions from critics, but it’s easily a much bigger success than the live-action Super Mario Bros. movie that was released in 1993. The notorious flop was directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel and starred Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi, and it became known as one of the worst video game adaptations of all time. Turns out, gaming fans weren’t the only ones who took issue with the film. Several weeks before the film began shooting, Disney purchased the distribution rights and demanded significant rewrites. In a recent interview with GQ, Leguizamo revealed that Disney wasn’t happy with certain aspects of the film.

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

Why Is  John Leguizamo Boycotting The Super Mario Bros. Movie?

When the animated cast of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was first revealed back in 2021, Leguizamo took issue with the lack of Latinx representation, pointing out the “groundbreaking color-blind casting in the original.” Now that The Super Mario Bros. Movie has been released in theaters, TMZ asked Leguizamo if his stance had changed, and the actor revealed he still has no plans to see the film.

“No I will not be watching Super Mario Bros. They could have included a Latin character like I… I was groundbreaking and they stopped the groundbreaking. They messed up the inclusion. They disincluded,” Leguizamo told TMZ.

Who Stars in The Super Mario Bros. Movie?

The Super Mario Bros. Movie features the voices of Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as the villainous Bowser, Charlie Day as Luigi, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. You can read a description of the movie here: “While working underground to fix a water main, Brooklyn plumbers Mario (Chris Pratt) and brother Luigi (Charlie Day) are transported down a mysterious pipe and wander into a magical new world. But when the brothers are separated, Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi. With the assistance of a Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) and some training from the strong-willed ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), Mario taps into his own power. “”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now playing in theaters.