John Leguizamo who played Luigi in the 1993 live-action 'Super Mario Bros.' refuses to watch the Chris Pratt-fronted new take due to lack of 'inclusion' in the casting.
- April 7, 2023
AceShowbiz - John Leguizamo is not interested in watching "The Super Mario Bros. Movie". The 62-year-old actor portrayed Luigi in the panned 1993 live-action film "Super Mario Bros." and revealed that he won't be seeing the new animated flick due to a lack of "inclusion" in the casting.
Chris Pratt and Charlie Day take on the roles of Mario and Luigi respectively but the decision not to put Latin actors in the roles has been criticised by Leguizamo. "Hell no! No I will not (be watching). They could've included a Latin character," the Colombian-born actor told TMZ when asked if he plans to see the movie.
"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 per cent of the population. The largest people of colour group and we are underrepresented."
It is not the first time that John has criticised the movie as he described it as a "backwards" step to have two white actors voicing Mario and Luigi last year. The "Carlito's Way" star told IndieWire, "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. The 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. They fought really hard, and it was such a breakthrough. For them to go backwards and not cast another (actor of colour) kind of sucks."
