Why is John Leguizamo boycotting ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie?’

It’s been 30 years since the live-action Super Mario Bros. hit the big screen. Sadly, the film was a box-office bomb and resulted in severe hesitation from Nintendo to license out its intellectual property again, but here we are in 2023 with a new animated adventure in the form of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Unfortunately, John Leguizamo, the actor who played Luigi in the 1993 film, has refused to go see it. 

Leguizamo, 62, has expressed zero interest in seeing the movie in the months leading up to its premiere. He isn’t mincing his words or padding his opinions — he is straight-up boycotting the film, and he’s encouraging other moviegoers to do the same. 

John Leguizamo is upset at film’s casting choice and wants nothing to do with it

Leguizamo’s first complaint about The Super Mario Bros. Movie emerged in Nov. 2022 when he spoke to IndieWire about Universal Pictures’ “backward” casting decision. In 1993, he was one of the few non-white actors to star in the movie. Now, 30 years later, Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, both white, are the new voices for Mario and Luigi. To Leguizamo, that’s “unfortunate.”

“I’m O.G. A lot of people love the original. I did Comic-Con in New York and in Baltimore, and everyone’s like, ‘No, no, we love the old one, the original.’ They’re not feeling the new one.’ I’m not bitter. It’s unfortunate.”

On April 5, the day of The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiere,  Leguizamo was asked once again by TMZ whether he would see The Super Mario Bros. Movie, to which he responded “hell no!”

“No I will not [be watching]. They could’ve included a Latin character. 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.”

The original Mario Bros arcade game revolved around siblings Mario and Luigi, who are plumbers, as they work to fight evil monsters and strange creatures in the Mushroom Kingdom after accidentally being sucked into a warp pipe. Both of them are Italian.

Despite initial reviews suggesting the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie was little better than its 1993 predecessor, the movie managed to silence the critics with impressive opening weekend box office numbers. Regrettably, the same can’t be said for its predecessor, which brought in $38.9 million on a $48 million budget. 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is currently playing in theaters. Here’s how you can watch it.