SuperMarioBros, SuperMario, Nintendo
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Abused extras, drunk stars, and way too many cooks in the kitchen.
00:05This is the wild true story of the making of 1993's Super Mario Bros.
00:10If you're watching a movie made by a major Hollywood studio, there's a good chance it
00:14was either partially or completely rewritten multiple times by multiple writers.
00:19But even considering that standard, Super Mario Bros. had a lot of writers.
00:23To be specific, about a dozen scribes turned in drafts, with a number of writing teams
00:28hired and then unceremoniously fired.
00:30Early scripts were more reminiscent of the games, as they were colorful and featured
00:34many of the villains and allies that Mario encountered throughout his side-scrolling
00:38adventures.
00:39Also, Koopa was actually a giant spiked lizard.
00:42But when producers finally settled on a pair of directors, they brought along their own
00:46ideas for script revisions.
00:48The directing team of Rocky Morton and Annabelle Jankel were best known as the creators of
00:52the dystopian sci-fi character Max Headroom.
00:55Their ideas were the ones that mostly ended up on the final cut of the movie, but the
00:59producers were so worried that Morton and Jankel had so radically departed from the
01:03source material that a new set of writers were brought in to fix it.
01:07The producers then barred the directors from even speaking to the new writers.
01:11When the principal cast arrived on set and read the new version of the script for the
01:14first time, they were furious, and this pretty much set the tone for the entire production
01:19to come.
01:20There's no denying that Bob Hoskins was an ideal physical fit to play Mario, but the
01:24role could have gone to a few different actors, all of whom are legends in their own right.
01:29Two-time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman wanted the part, but Nintendo didn't feel that he
01:33was the best fit.
01:34So producers turned their sights towards Danny DeVito, though he turned them down.
01:39Then the casting process turned towards one of the biggest names in Hollywood history,
01:43Tom Hanks.
01:44At the time, Hanks was a rising star who was charming in every film lucky enough to cast
01:48him.
01:49Alas, though, his two most recent films at the time, The Burbs and The Bonfire of the
01:53Vanities, flopped at the box office and scared off producers.
01:57In the years to come, Hanks would win two Academy Awards, and basically become America's
02:01dad.
02:02So things ultimately probably worked out for the best for him.
02:05But who knows what alternate universe we'd be living in if Hanks was Mario and Bob Hoskins
02:09was Forrest Gump?
02:10You never know what you're gonna get.
02:13Instead of taking inspiration from the actual Super Mario video games, the screenwriters
02:17looked towards big-budget, adult-oriented violence action movies.
02:21In particular, they drew from the likes of Die Hard, Mad Max, and Blade Runner.
02:26In the late 80s and early 90s, those three films were the cultural touchstones that pretty
02:30much everyone was referencing when it came to blockbusters, sci-fi, and action.
02:34The Die Hard inspiration was so extreme that one version of the script even called for
02:39a Bruce Willis cameo.
02:40The idea was for him to be crawling through the air vents above Cooper's office.
02:44Another version of the screenplay took direct inspiration from the Mad Max franchise by
02:48having the characters driving tricked-out post-apocalyptic cars and participating in
02:52death races.
02:53With all this in mind, it sounds like nobody in charge of making the Super Mario Bros.
02:57movie actually wanted to make a Super Mario Bros. movie.
03:01Before Super Mario Bros., directors Morton and Jankle had worked primarily on music videos
03:06and had some experience making a couple of dark and trippy features.
03:10So when it came to the visual aspect of making a movie, they were legitimately innovative
03:15for their time.
03:16But their philosophies might've been a little too wild for Nintendo.
03:19Case in point, they didn't even want to dress Mario and Luigi in their classic overalls.
03:24This was a major point of contention, with the producers demanding that Mario and Luigi
03:29look at least a little bit like they did in the video games.
03:32Morton and Jankle fought them tooth and nail for most of the production, until they finally
03:36gave in.
03:37So if not for the producers' dogged insistence, the only visually recognizable aspect of Mario
03:42and Luigi likely would've just been Bob Hoskins' mustache.
03:45"...and sabotage!"
03:47Morton and Jankle's arrogance effectively ruined their film careers and any chance of
03:51making a single friend on the Mario set.
03:53The cast and crew pretty much hated the directing duo, often resorting to calling them names
03:58behind their backs and grumbling about their bizarre antics.
04:01Bob Hoskins believed that Morton and Jankle had no idea what they were doing, while Dennis
04:06Hopper complained that they weren't very good at communicating script changes.
04:09At one point, Morton was looking over the extras.
04:12He thought one of them didn't look dirty enough, so he grabbed a cup of coffee and
04:16allegedly poured it over the extra's head.
04:18Morton claimed that the coffee had been sitting around for a while, though he also said that
04:22when the extra complained that it was hot, he doused the extra with cool water to soothe
04:26the pain.
04:27Then when it came time for reshoots, the producers didn't allow the directing duo to shoot even
04:31a single new frame.
04:33Their slow disassociation from the film reached its peak, when they were also banned from
04:37the editing room.
04:39John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins became so disgruntled during production that they eventually started
04:44drinking scotch to pass the time, and make the dark days go by a little easier.
04:48But as luck would have it, on one of the days they were kicking back shots, they were called
04:52onto set to shoot a scene in which they had to drive the Mario Bros. plumbing van.
04:56Leguizamo was then reportedly a little shaky behind the wheel.
05:00When the directors yelled,
05:01"...action," he slammed the accelerator and then he quickly slammed on the brake.
05:05The van's sliding door slammed shut on Hoskins' right hand, and then he had to wear a flesh-toned
05:09cast.
05:10And that clearly wasn't Hoskins' only bad memory from the whole production.
05:14In August 2007, he opened up about the whole experience during an interview with The Guardian.
05:19To say that he didn't hold back would be putting it mildly.
05:22As he recalled,
05:23"...the worst thing I ever did was Super Mario Bros.
05:25It was a f----- nightmare.
05:27The whole experience was a nightmare.
05:29It had a husband-and-wife team directing, whose arrogance had been mistaken for talent.
05:33F----- nightmare.
05:34F----- idiots."
05:36When bringing the Super Mario world to life, the filmmakers made the unique choice to not
05:40include Princess Peach, but instead Princess Daisy.
05:43She's played by Samantha Mathis, who was perhaps then best known for the 1990 cult classic
05:48Pump Up the Volume.
05:49However, those with keen ears may recognize Mathis' voice from another movie released
05:54just a year before Super Mario Bros.
05:56That would be Fern Gully, The Last Rainforest, in which she plays Krista, a young fairy who
06:01stands up to toxic sludge monster Hexus and falls in love with Zack the Lumberjack.
06:05"...Look out!
06:06Bless your eyes with magic light, I give the gift of fairy sight!"
06:13It's pretty impressive for someone to play two different iconic characters within a year
06:17of each other, even if the Daisy of the video games is a little different than the version
06:21Mathis played.
06:23Even if you find Super Mario Bros. charming despite its flaws, you probably wouldn't mention
06:27the word Oscars in the same breath as this movie.
06:30Nevertheless, it was actually a viable candidate for a coveted statuette, as it was among the
06:34films under consideration for a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 66th Academy
06:39Awards.
06:40Ultimately, however, the competition was too much for Super Mario Bros. to snag a nomination,
06:45especially considering the other big dinosaur-themed movie of that year, Jurassic Park.
06:50Still, Mario is in good company, as other fantastical favorites from that year like
06:54Hocus Pocus and Addams Family Values didn't make the cut either, despite also being under
07:00consideration.
07:01A nomination would have been well-deserved, though, as Super Mario Bros. actually pioneered
07:04some significant new visual effects technology and software.
07:08Even though script rewrites were basically a daily occurrence on the Super Mario Bros.
07:12set, the actors genuinely tended to stick with the lines they were given once they were
07:17finalized.
07:18Even Dennis Hopper, who reportedly once spent more than three hours chastising the directors
07:22over the constant dialogue changes, eventually chose to go along with what was written.
07:26But Richard Edson, who plays King Cooper's henchman Spike, is one actor who essentially
07:31threw the script out the window.
07:33Also going off-script was Fisher Stevens, who played Spike's henchman partner-in-crime
07:37Iggy.
07:38As Edson revealed in a 2011 interview, his and Stevens' dissatisfaction with the original
07:42dialogue led to them pitching new material to Jankle and Morton.
07:46The directors were impressed enough to give them almost complete control over their characters,
07:51including a rap that sadly ended up on the cutting room floor.
07:56I missed.
07:57Nice job.
08:00One of the most iconic heroic characters from the Super Mario franchise is the humanoid
08:04Toadstool Toad, but alas, he doesn't have a very big role in the Super Mario Bros. movie.
08:09He's played by Mojo Nixon as a musician who provides useful exposition to Mario and Luigi
08:14before being turned into a Goomba by King Cooper.
08:17He does appear a few more times after that, but it's not a very significant part.
08:21That wasn't always going to be the case, though.
08:23In multiple versions of the script, Toad is a key ally once Mario and Luigi end up
08:28in King Cooper's world.
08:29In the first screenplay draft, he was originally going to look like a three-foot-tall Toadstool-shaped
08:34creature, basically his appearance in the video games, rather than a human with a funky
08:38haircut.
08:39A later draft reinvented Toad as being part humanoid and part chameleon, which subsequent
08:44writers initially stuck with before downplaying his lizard features in a later revision.
08:50If you ask anyone who worked on Super Mario Bros., they'll probably tell you it was a
08:54pretty rough experience, and their opinion of the final product generally isn't so great,
08:58either.
08:59Samantha Mathis, for one, called it a pretty bad movie when she stopped by the Saturday
09:03Morning Rewind podcast in 2019, but that isn't to say that they completely hate it.
09:09Mathis also noted that she does appreciate the affection from the fans who love the movie,
09:13and as John Leguizamo told SlashFilm in 2022, he's gained a greater affection for the flick
09:19for the same reason.
09:20He also appreciated the trailblazing decision to cast a Colombian actor like himself in
09:24a leading role, and Fisher-Stevens even told Entertainment Weekly in 2021,
09:28"...I can't wait till my kids are old enough to watch this movie."
09:32And visual effects designer and supervisor Chris Woods has praised the work that he and
09:36his colleagues did for the film.
09:38Meanwhile, Alan Apone of the production company Makeup & Effects Laboratory said in a 2011
09:43interview,
09:44"...we achieved everything and more than we set out to do."
09:47Super Mario Bros. wraps up most of its plot points fairly conclusively, but just before
09:51the credits start to roll, viewers are hit with a whopper of a tease when Daisy shows
09:55up at the Mario Bros. apartment in full-on combat gear to recruit the siblings for another
10:00adventure.
10:01So you could easily be forgiven for thinking that there's a Super Mario Bros. sequel out
10:05there, and you'd actually be kind of right...sort of.
10:09Super Mario Bros. 2 exists as a digital fan comic created by Ryan Hoss and Stephen Applebaum,
10:15the owners of the Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive website.
10:18In addition to Daisy and the brothers, characters like Daisy's father, King Resnor, appear in
10:23expanded roles.
10:24The comic also expands upon the powers that Daisy gets from her dimension-bridging meteor
10:28fragment.
10:29What sets the comic apart from other fan continuations is that it has input from Parker Bennett,
10:34who penned the film's second draft.
10:36Though the original comic remains unfinished, a reworked version debuted in 2021 that seemingly
10:41swaps warts out with Dino Hatton Police Chief Sgt. Simon, one of King Cooper's former associates.