The Original Super Mario Bros. Movie Understood a Universal Truth: Luigi Is Cooler

Hoskins brought credibility, Leguizamo accessibility to young viewers. The fact the movie has a bit of a cult following to this day is likely because of this dynamic (plus buckets of nostalgia). Well, that, and perhaps “a mild sensation.”

Indeed, in Leguizamo’s memoir Pimps, Hoes, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life (2006), Leguizamo revealed that Hoskins took him aside one morning and apologized for “these Brits,” referring to the directors. “Not all English people are like them. He’s a cunt and she’s a cow. Care for a mild sensation?” Leguizamo soon deduced that was Cockney slang for a wild libation. Hoskins and Leguizamo then vanished into the English actor’s trailer for a glass or two of Scotch. It would be the first of many.

After daily drinks, Hoskins would say, “Come on, John, let’s hurry up before I forget what it is I do for a living. I’m not getting any younger. Grab your cobblers, me old china, time to scraper.”

Leguizamo did not affectionately reminisce in that book about Super Mario Bros. He wrote fondly about Hoskins and Mathis, for sure, but when it comes to the film itself, he said, “I hated the movie, I hated what I was doing in it, I hated the whole situation.” Since 2006 his opinion has turned around. Despite the movie’s failures, it was a foot in the door to Hollywood where he’d soon be cast in both dramatic and comedic roles,  and as the years have passed Leguizamo’s grown to appreciate the ‘93 movie developed a bit of a cult following. He even defended it in lieu of this year’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie reboot, telling IndieWire in November that “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.”

While that might be true, the new Super Mario Bros. flick takes a page from modern Nintendo games. Ever since Luigi’s Mansion (2001), and more acutely its sequels, Luigi has been reimagined. While he still jumps higher and further than his shorter big bro in games like Super Mario 3D World, he’s often characterized as a putz, a fall-guy, a screw up who is definitely afraid of all ‘em ghosts. And as voiced by Charlie Day in the new movie, he’s so cowardly he barely has any role in the story, essentially becoming the damsel kidnapped by Bowser (Jack Black) while Mario (Chris Pratt) and Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) go on the adventure.

Which is a fair enough revision, but for gamers of a certain age who grew up with an NES or SNES, Leguizamo’s motor-mouthed Luigi in those big lifts will always be the real deal. The cool one in the backwards cap.