The Super Mario Bros Movie directors say Chris Pratt's casting "makes total sense" – and break down his Brooklyn-inspired accent

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Exclusive: The Super Mario Bros. Movie directors Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath on creating an "authentic" adaptation

Exclusive image from The Super Mario Bros. Movie
(Image credit: Universal/Nintendo)

The Super Mario Bros. movie sees the video game icon get a faithful big-screen adaptation from the directors of Teen Titans Go! Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath. "We wanted to make this movie a very authentic Nintendo Super Mario experience," says Horvath to Total Film magazine in the latest issue, which features Renfield on the cover. "From story to visual development to the animation, Nintendo has been with us every step of the way."

For all their mechanical creativity, the Super Mario games keep storytelling and characterisation to a minimum – a luxury Jelenic and Horvath didn't have with the movie. "It's a bit of an origin tale," Horvath explains. "It's the story of Mario becoming Super Mario." At the outset Mario and his brother Luigi are plumbers in Brooklyn, "blue-collar guys… from a family of Italian immigrants" who make cheesy adverts (see our exclusive image for a glimpse at this) and find themselves warped to the Mushroom Kingdom. With no suitable game tales to directly adapt, the filmmakers drew from 40 years of Mario adventures in other ways. "When you play the game, if you don’t give up, Mario will succeed," Horvath says. "So we transferred that player experience from the game to a characteristic that [movie] Mario would have."

The actor voicing Mario is Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt. Due to a variety of concerns, his casting was greeted with hefty scepticism. Horvath is confident he'll prove doubters wrong. "For us, it made total sense," the director asserts. "He's really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterised in our film, he’s perfect for it."

The Super Mario Bros. movie sees the video game icons get a faithful big-screen adaptation from the directors of Teen Titans Go! Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath. "We wanted to make this movie a very authentic Nintendo Super Mario experience," says Horvath to Total Film, and be that everyman."

The Super Mario Bros. releases in cinemas on April 7 in the UK and April 5 in the US. For more from The Super Mario Bros. Movie directors, grab a copy of the new issue of Total Film magazine when it hits shelves (and digital newsstands) this Thursday, March 2. Check out the covers below:

Total Film's Renfield covers.

(Image credit: Universal/Total Film)

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(Image credit: Total Film)
Jordan Farley
Jordan Farley
Managing Editor, Entertainment

I'm the Managing Editor, Entertainment here at GamesRadar+, overseeing the site's film and TV coverage. In a previous life as a print dinosaur, I was the Deputy Editor of Total Film magazine, and the news editor at SFX magazine. Fun fact: two of my favourite films released on the same day - Blade Runner and The Thing.

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