John Leguizamo Says He Refuses To Watch ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Because They Did Not Cast Any Latin Actors: “I Was Groundbreaking And Then They Stopped The Groundbreaking”
Whether the result of a case of ‘sour grapes’ or a general need to virtue signal, actor John Leguizamo has declared that he will absolutely not be seeing The Super Mario Bros. Movie because the film does not star any Latin actors.
Leguizamo, who previously portrayed Mario’s green-hatted brother Luigi in Hollywood’s 1993 live-action take on the Nintendo icon, voiced his discontent with the Nintendo icon’s latest silver screen outing while taking photos with fans on the streets of NYC.
Approached by TMZ during his impromptu meet-and-greet – which occurred on the same day that The Super Mario Bros. Movie released in theaters – Leguizamo was asked by the celebrity gossip outlet if he would be catching the film, to which he reportedly declared, “No, I will not.”
“They could’ve included a Latin character,” explained the Encanto star, via a transcript of TMZ’s conversation provided by Variety. “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.”
Pressed once more by TMZ on whether he had any intention of catching Illumination’s animated effort, Leguizamo bluntly exclaimed, “Hell no!”
Leguizamo’s reaction comes as no surprise given that the actor has long been critical of The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s lack of Latin talent.
In 2021, shortly after the film’s announcement, the actor took to his personal Twitter account to complain, “So glad #SuperMarioBros is getting a reboot! Obviously it’s iconic enough, but too bad they went all white! No Latinx in the leads! Groundbreaking colorblind casting in original! Plus I’m the only one who knows how to make this movie work script wise!”
Later speaking with IndieWire in November 2022, Leguizamo would once again take issue with what he saw as the film’s lack of representation.
“[The 1986 film] directors Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton fought really hard for me to be the lead because I was a Latin man, and they [the studio] didn’t want me to be the lead,” the actor said. “They fought really hard, and it was such a breakthrough. For them to go backwards and not cast another [actor of color] kind of sucks.”
And yet, despite all of Leguizamo’s bleating, The Super Mario Bros. Movie actually does feature a Latin actor (and a somewhat prominent one at that) in its cast.
Given his mother’s birthplace in San Fernando de Apure and his confirmed blood-relation to numerous individuals within the region, Fred Armisen, who voices Donkey Kong’s father Cranky in the animated film, verifiably possesses Venezuelan heritage.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is in theaters now.
NEXT: ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Review – Plunging Rainbow Colored Nostalgia to Death
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