The upcoming “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” film adaptation of the Nintendo games will see the famed character of Princess Peach will undergo some alterations from her video gaming counterpart.
This adaptation of the popular Nintendo games follows two Brooklyn plumbers who are brothers and best friends: Mario, the brave one with the ‘let’s-a-go’ attitude, and the perpetually anxious Luigi, who would prefer to go nowhere.
The pair are forced to leave behind their struggling plumbing business and wind up in a whirlwind adventure through the Mushroom Kingdom as they try to unite the land in an effort to defeat Bowser.
In a recent chat with comicbook.com, the film’s co-directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (“Teen Titans Go! To the Movies”) spoke about why character will no longer be a damsel in distress like her game counterpart whose kidnap often leads to Mario setting out on his rescue missions. Here she’s a powerful and capable ruler as Horvath explains:
“She’s the monarch who leads this kingdom of hapless, adorable Toads. We were thinking how strong that person would need to be to protect those people. All that informed the idea for Peach’s character in our movie.
It’s Mario’s goal to save his brother from Bowser’s clutches. He has to go on this epic adventure to do that. So Luigi, who’s a famously nervous, anxious character, finds himself in the worst possible predicament: having to survive interrogations with Bowser, and make it through that gauntlet.”
The new film alters other elements including Mario’s backstory, Bowser’s motivations and an exploration of Mario and Luigi’s origins. Matthew Fogel (“Minions: The Rise of Gru”) penned the script while Chris Meledandri and Shigeru Miyamoto are producing.
The film’s voice cast also includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong along with Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
The director’s have defended the casting of the decidedly non-Italian Chris Pratt to play Mario. Pratt’s voice essentially sounds like Pratt doing a Brooklyn accent with Horvath telling Total Film:
“It’s a bit of an origin tale. It’s the story of Mario becoming Super Mario… [he’] a blue-collar guy from a family of Italian immigrants. For us, it made total sense. He’s really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterized in our film, he’s perfect for it.”
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” opens around much of the world on April 5th.
