In The Super Mario Bros. movie, viewers are introduced to the family of Mario and Luigi. While plumbers have supported each other since 1983, we have never had the opportunity to see their parents or other family members at the Nintendo games. However, it seems there was a plan for Mario and Luigi’s parents to show up at some point, as unused character sketches of the two were provided to the film’s directors. In a new interview with Polygonco-director Aaron Horvath revealed that the film’s version of Mario’s father was quite close to Nintendo’s design.
“They sent us sketches of characters they’d done years ago that they’d never used; Mario’s dad is almost like a one-to-one design adaptation of [Nintendo’s] Original design of Mario’s dad that they gave us. It was great to be able to put that into the movie,” Horvath told Polygon.
In the film, Mario’s father plays a pivotal role, initially disapproving of his sons leaving construction to become plumbers. Opportunely, the character is played in the film by Charles Martinet, who has voiced Mario in games since the ’90s. However, Mario’s mother approves of him a bit more. Like Mario’s father, Mario’s mother’s design was based on one provided by Nintendo. However, Horvath told Polygon that the team took more creative liberties with their final design.
“We made a few more changes to him, but he looks a lot like his original design. And Mario’s grandfather in our movie looks a little bit more like Mario, but like he’s a boxer or something,” Horvath said. “We strayed a little bit from his designs on some of the other family members, but Mom and Dad were very close. Very close.”
In addition to Mario and Luigi’s parents, several other members of their family were specially designed for the film. While Super Mario Bros. Super Show it would occasionally feature unique characters such as cousins, it appears that many of the family members that appeared in the film were created solely for the film. This includes Uncle Tony from Mario and Luigi, who is voiced by veteran Spider-Man actor Rino Romano.
Were you happy to learn more about Mario and Luigi’s family life in the movie? Would you like to see your parents appear in a game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about everything related to games!
.
