2013 can be considered a year of video game anniversaries. Such examples would be the Capcom celebrating the 25th anniversary of its popular “Mega Man” franchise and Arc System Works celebrating the 25th anniversary of its establishment. On May 28, it will be the 20th anniversary since the live-action “
Super Mario Brothers” movie had come out. Actor and comedian John Leguizamo, who played Luigi (one half of the Mario Brothers), gave a special
20th anniversary message. Leguizamo
talked about his memories and experiences on the film; both the good and the bad.
Crunchyroll reports that that a special anniversary screening was held on Friday. According to Leguizamo, Super Mario Brothers was one of the first movies to be adapted from a video game let alone a video game franchise. Leguizamo said, because of that, filming was very tough as nobody knew how to go about it. He admits that a lot of movies were made; when looking back on it, Leguizamo was satisfied. Furthermore, he talked about being able to work with veteran actors Bob Hoskins (who played Mario) and Dennis Hopper (who played the villainous King Koopa).
One funny and awkward moment he recalls, in this anniversary video, is the “disco scene” in the movie. The disco dancers, from what Leguizamo explained, were actual strippers. He talked about the awkward humor of strippers wanting to do what they usually do but can't since Super Mario Brothers is supposed to be a children's movie. Leguizamo said that shooting the scene was very difficult. Leguizamo also talked about one incident in which an electrician almost got killed. Then, he talks about other incidents in regards to shooting the film.
While this is one of the earliest movies to be adapted from a video game, it had poor reception. After the movie was created, more video game movies would follow. Such examples would be “Street Fighter” which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme as Colonel William Guile and the late-Raul Julia as the villainous M. Bison (this was Julia's last film), “Double Dragon” which starred Scott Wolf and Alyssa Milano, “Wing Commander” which starred Freddie Prinze Jr., “Alone In The Dark” which starred Christian Slater, and “Resident Evil” which starred Milla Jovavich.
