Super Mario Movie Casts Sebastian Maniscalco

Illumination Entertainment’s upcoming Super Mario animated movie has apparently cast comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. Maniscalco revealed his role in the movie during an appearance on the August 5th episode of Bert Kreischer’s Bertcast podcast. According to Maniscalco, he’ll be playing the role of “Spike,” before adding that the character is Mario and Luigi’s “boss.” As Nintendo Everything points out, there is a character named Spike in the 1985 game Wrecking Crew. In that game, Spike was the foreman at a construction company Mario and Luigi worked for. The character has only made a handful of appearances since, which would make this a pretty deep cut!

So far, very few details have been revealed about the movie, including which actor will portray Mario. Fans have been hoping to see Charles Martinet in the role, but there has been no announcement at this time. Martinet has voiced the character for more than two decades, so fans understandably have a strong attachment to his take on Mario. This depiction of the character mostly expresses himself through minor words and sounds, so it will be interesting to see how the movie handles Mario’s voice and mannerisms. Presumably, it will be a full speaking role, as we’ve seen in projects like the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.

The project represents Nintendo‘s first foray into films since the Super Mario Bros. movie, which released back in 1993. That film took a lot of liberties that diverged from the Nintendo games, and the company has been understandably hesitant to make new movies since. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto is apparently “very, very hands-on with the production,” which should bode well, but it remains to be seen whether it can capture the heart of the games that inspired it!

Now that Maniscalco has revealed his role in the film, perhaps we’ll finally start to get more information on the movie and its stars. The Super Mario movie is currently set to release next year. Mario fans have been waiting a very long time to see the character return to the big screen; hopefully, the wait will end up being worth it!

Are you excited for the Mario movie from Illumination? What do you think of Maniscalco’s casting? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!