John Leguizamo is not backing down on his beef with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The actor, who played Luigi in the original 1993 Super Mario Bros film alongside Bob Hoskin’s Mario, has been vocal about the new movie going “backwards” in terms of representation. Leguizamo’s casting was a huge deal in the early ’90s, and to him, the new film erased all that progress by casting Charlie Day as Luigi.
With The Super Mario Bros. Movie now in theaters, TMZ caught up with Leguizamo on the streets and asked him if he’s going to at least check out the new film. He did not mince words. Via Variety:
“No I will not [be watching]. They could’ve included a Latin character,” Leguizamo said. “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.”
When asked again by TMZ if he would be watching the movie, Leguizamo answered: “Hell no!”
Thanks to his recent stint on The Daily Show, Leguizamo has been a hot streak calling things like they see him. However, he might not want to catch wind of what Seth Rogen recently said about the original Super Mario Bros film because it was pretty brutal as well.
“It’s one of the worst films ever made,” Rogen told Variety while recalling seeing it in theaters at 11-years-old. “I was so disappointed. I think it made me realize that movies, like, could be bad. That never occurred to me until that moment.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now playing in theaters.
(Via Variety)
