Super Mario Bros. Huge first week, but John Leguizamo won’t be in the audience.
said the 62-year-old actor TMZ during a stop in New York City on Wednesday that he wouldn’t watch the new movie because of its lack of a “Latino character.”
It’s unclear from his complaints whether for the film he wanted the fictional Italian video game characters Mario and Luigi to be rewritten as Latino, or if he again wanted one of them to be played by a Latino actor, as he did in the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros.
The criticism, previously expressed last year, didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the film’s box office, as it grossed more in its first full day in theaters than the previous film made over its entire domestic run in theaters. , without accounting for inflation.
“No, I’m not going to watch it,” Leguizamo said, posing for selfies with fans.
The boycott: John Leguizamo told TMZ on Wednesday that he won’t be watching the new Super Mario Bros. movie because it doesn’t have a “Latino character”; Seen March 23 in New York City
Old School: Leguizamo starred as Italian plumber Luigi in the 1993 blockbuster Super Mario Bros. Ultimate. He was seen with costar Bob Hoskins, who was English
They could have included a Latin character. I was pioneering, then they stopped pioneering.
They messed up the inclusion. They have been displaced, Leguizamo said. Just throw in some Latino folk. We are 20 percent of the population – the largest colored group, and we are underrepresented. Overrepresentation in the worst kinda jobs, though.
Although Mario and Luigi are portrayed as Italian in different games, the characters were created by Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi.
Leguizamo may have intended to identify the Latino cast, as he was still playing an Italian in the 1993 film.
However, the new Super Mario Bros. movie does have some Latino actors, but not in the lead roles.
Former Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen – who appears as Donkey Kong’s father Cranky Kong – has a Venezuelan mother and Korean and European ancestry on his father’s side. He also regularly played Latino characters.
Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Princess Peach, identifies as white, but speaks fluent Spanish and spent her early years in Argentina.
The Queen’s Gambit star’s father is of Anglo-Argentine and British descent, while her mother is half Spanish — which would be considered Hispanic, since it’s a Spanish-speaking country, but not Latino, since it’s not part of Latin America.
Back in November, Leguizamo seemed more explicit in wanting an actor of color as one of the main characters, rather than as a character.
Tell IndieWire It’s ‘disgusting’ that the new movie has white actors Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as Mario and Luigi, respectively.
“I’m the OG. Many people like the original,” said the Bogota-born Colombian star. “I did Comic-Con in New York and in Baltimore, and everyone was like, ‘No, no, we like the old, the original. ‘They don’t feel new. I’m not bitter. It’s a pity.’
He added that directors Annabelle Gunkel and Rocky Morton fought so hard for me to be a lead because I was a Latina guy, and (the studio) didn’t want me to be a lead. They fought so hard, that was a breakthrough.
He added that it was “for them to go back and not throw (an actor of color) another kind of suck”.
They were misunderstood, Leguizamo said. However, Fred Armisen is half-Venezuelan, and Anya Taylor-Joy has Anglo-Argentine and Hispanic heritage, even though she identifies as white. Still from the Super Mario Bros. movie
Number one in his heart: In November, Leguizamo claimed to IndieWire that Mario fans at Comic-Cons had confessed how much they loved the 1993 live-action film
Holds his nose: Seth Rogen, who voices Donkey Kong, called the former “one of the worst movies ever made” while chatting with Variety at Saturday’s premiere; It was seen on April 1 in Los Angeles
While ratings for the 1993 film have risen over time, and new viewers appreciate the film’s impressive production design, Seth Rogen recently shared his disappointment with the previous film while chatting with him. diverse At the Super Mario Bros. premiere on Saturday.
“When I was 11 years old, I saw the original Super Mario Bros movie and was so excited,” he recalls. But it is one of the worst films ever made.
I was very disappointed. I think it made me realize that movies, like, can be bad. It never occurred to me until that point.
Rogen also said he was glad other 11-year-olds wouldn’t be disappointed in the same way I was.
