The Super Mario Bros. Movie makes a small but necessary update to the larger Super Mario lore, showcasing Mario and Luigi’s immediate and extended family for the first time. We’ve seen unofficial glimpses of the brothers’ father previouslybut Nintendo and Illumination greatly expanded the Mario family tree for the new Mario movie.
All of this was done with Nintendo’s approval, of course. The game maker even provided the look of Mario’s father, played by a well-known voice actor in the film, based on previously unused character designs from Nintendo.
Super Mario Bros. Movie Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic told Polygon that a dinner scene featuring the extended Mario family was crucial to the film’s storytelling.
“It goes back […] to ground the characters,” said Horvath. “We wanted her at a lively family dinner. So it’s like this Well, we need some people – who would be there? Mario’s mom and dad. He would have a couple of uncles who would break his balls. These are his father’s brothers [Uncle Arthur, played by John DiMaggio, and Uncle Tony, played by Rino Romano]and his aunt Marie.”
Mario and Luigi’s niece and grandfather are also there, ripping the plumbers off about their new (and already almost-failed) business and the costumes they’re wearing.
“Nintendo was totally open to it – they were fully on board with this cinematic portrayal of Mario and knew he wasn’t just going to be some guy who pops out of a whistle and yells ‘Wahoo!’ says. and then he sets off on his adventure,” said Horvath. “We had to work a little bit more to believe he’s a real guy with a real life and real problems. So they were totally into creating this family for Mario.
“They sent us character sketches they made years ago that they never used; Mario’s father is almost like a one-to-one design adaptation of [Nintendo’s] Original design by Mario’s father that they provided to us. It was really great to get that into the film.”
Horvath says the film’s character designers changed the design of Mario’s mother, voiced by Jessica DiCicco: “We made a few more changes to her, but she’s very close to her original design. And Mario’s grandfather in our movie looks a little bit more like Mario, but like he used to be a boxer or something. We deviated a little from their designs for a few other family members, but Mom and Dad were very close. Very close.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is in cinemas now.
