The Super Mario Bros. Movie follows brothers Mario and Luigi, plumbers in Brooklyn, as they are pulled into a strange new world and land in the Mushroom Kingdom. Separated from his brother, Mario embarks on a quest to find Luigi with the help of an odd group of characters he comes across, including Toad, Princess Peach, and Donkey Kong. The Super Mario Bros. will have to face off against a powerful foe in order to reunite and help their new friends, the fire-breathing leader of the Koopas, Bowser, who plans to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and general manager of Nintendo, and Chris Meledandri, the CEO and founder of Illumination, are the producers of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The animated movie is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans Go!) and penned by Matthew Fogel. The Super Mario Bros. Movie star-studded cast voicing iconic Mario and Donkey Kong characters is led by Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Keegan-Michael Key, Fred Armisen, and Kevin Michael Richardson. The animated movie also features a cameo from Charles Martinet, the voice of both Mario and Luigi in the Mario games.
Screen Rant spoke with producers Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri about The Super Mario Bros. Movie. They break down the development process for the animated movie and why they wanted to tell an origin story. Miyamoto explains what inspired him to bring Donkey Kong and Mario together in the movie, as well as how they incorporated the various Mario games into the script. Meledandri discusses the animation style of Super Mario Bros. and his continued work with Nintendo.
Shigeru Miyamoto & Chris Meledandri on The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Screen Rant: This film is so immersive. Mr. Miyamoto, what was it about the story that made you want to see Mario back on the big screen?
Shigeru Miyamoto: Since his conception, Mario has been a character that appears in games and has been created for games. That's been our direction for 30 years, and then about 10 years ago, we sat down and discussed how great it would be if people were able to interact and engage with Mario outside of games as well. We had the idea of wanting to create an animated movie with Mario, but few years after that, we met with Chris [Meledandri ] and had a discussion about what it means to create something. The idea came up, and that's where we are now.
Chris, how long did it take to develop this film from beginning to end?
Chris Meledandri : Now you're gonna ask me to do math. [Laughs] Mr. Miyamoto and I met in 2014, and we just got to know each other. It would have been in 2015 that we began to talk specifically about making a Mario film, and the development process of the story and script alone was a good two years. We were just talking about story and exploring where we could go.
The movie incorporates multiple games, including Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart, Super Smash Brothers, and even Luigi's Mansion. Was the story developed around these games from the beginning?
Shigeru Miyamoto: Maybe about half of it. We knew that we wanted to include some of those things. The rest came as we were developing the movie. The directors are also fans of the games, and they know our games very well. So, as we're working on it, things would be added here and then maybe removed there. It was an iterative process.
Chris Meledandri : When you start the process, there's all these incredible choices coming from decades of games. But then we realized we needed to move towards defining the spine of the film and the definition of the spine came with a commitment to, in effect, telling an origin story.
Once we decided on that approach, we went to character. We really looked at the character dynamic of Mario on a quest to save his brother, and Bowser discovering these feelings for Princess Peach. We see his vulnerability while he's simultaneously being the villain. Once we had that spine, then we could go back to the conversation where we're exploring all of these elements that have come the different games. What's the journey? And what's the terrain that the journey will take us through?
Mr. Miyamoto, Super Mario Bros. expands the story and characters beyond the games. Is there anything about this film that surprised you?
Shigeru Miyamoto: One example is bringing the world of Donkey Kong into the Mushroom Kingdom. In this past, there was the the Mario group, and then Donkey Kong was a separate thing in my mind. But looking back, there are games like Mario Party where they appear together — to the point where I was thinking, "Why am I separating them?" And when the idea of bringing them together came up, we just thought it was a great idea.
Are there any other Nintendo properties, like Zelda or Starfox, that you think would make for a good movie or series in conjunction with Illumination?
Shigeru Miyamoto: There's nothing I can really comment on at the moment. But we started with the fact that we have a shared vision of creation, so I think there'll be opportunities in the future.
Mario has been around for over 40 years. What makes him stand the test of time?
Shigeru Miyamoto: There was a time when Mario was compared with Mickey Mouse. And at the time, I thought that Mickey Mouse was 40 years older than Mario, so he had no chance. But Mickey Mouse has evolved through the evolution of animation and, in that same sense, we have the idea that Mario then is going to evolve through a digital medium. With every new technology and hardware that we put out, there's a Mario game created that was part of that evolutionary process.
Chris Meledandri : We try to put clear and simple thoughts behind something that is actually a phenomenon. It has so many different factors involved so, on one hand, we could talk about his relatability; we could talk about his everyman qualities; we could talk about his perseverance.
But you could then talk about that nose or that mustache, or you could then look at all of these things and go, "It's really as much about the excellence of the games, and what role they play in introducing gameplay in ways that were totally fresh and exciting." Or you could talk about a spirit that resides inside of Miyamoto-san that extends into Mario. It's one of these great questions, but I find it very hard to reduce down to a simple answer.
Mr. Miyamoto, what about Mario makes him such a universally-beloved property?
Shigeru Miyamoto: Initially, I used to draw manga and comic books. I wasn't just focused on Japanese manga; I used to look at comics from Italy and the US and whatnot. I didn't specifically try to draw them for the Japanese market, so that's one aspect.
And the other aspect is that, when people play Mario games, it's really becoming an avatar for the player. Because of that, I think there's a lot of relatability and closeness that people feel to the character of Mario. A lot of times people think that an American-created game, so many people don't even know where it comes from.
Chris Meledandri : Let me add a thought to that. The tone of Mario is very specific, and when choosing Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelinek to direct the film, one of the most compelling aspects of them as potential directors was our sense that they truly understood what that tone is. When you have the specificity of Mario's tone, if you miss it, it can break. We tried very hard to channel the tone that's in the games into the movie.
What were your favorite moments to see brought to life on the big screen?
Shigeru Miyamoto: There's a lot that I love seeing come to fruition on the big screen. I'll use Peach as an example: Peach, thus far, has been a representation of what needs to be saved. Because of that, we try to keep it pretty simple. We didn't add too many movements or too many facial expressions. Obviously, we made games that included Peach in other scenarios, but now that we have her in the movie, she has a wide range of facial expressions and emotion that really makes her human. Seeing that on the big screen reassured me that this is the Peach you want to see.
Chris Meledandri l: The way I'd answer that question is more from my experience of making the movie. One of the very early sequences that moved through production early was the arena fight between Donkey Kong and Mario. Once I saw that sequence, I knew that we were going to be able to fulfill our shared commitment to make a great Mario film that fans would love.
That sequence, to me, was so imaginative. It communicated each of the characters, and it was incredibly exciting and visually dynamic. I'll never forget the feeling of when we first started to watch that sequence come to life.
Were there any story elements that were must-haves or that you wanted to avoid in the Mario universe?
Shigeru Miyamoto: I had to have almost everything in there. [Laughs] But one thing is the fact that Mario is an everyday person from Brooklyn, and that's where it starts. He gets wrapped up into this adventure and, through the adventure, he develops this confidence and bravery and comes back this new person. I think that's something that we felt was really necessary and had to have.
Chris Meladandri: To support that, the part of the movie that takes place in Brooklyn was really important because this was our opportunity to invite the audience to believe in Mario and Luigi as full characters. As we reveal things about who they were as people, that was where this transition happened between avatar and character who occupies the center of a movie. We found, once we really settled into Brooklyn, that this starting point was really fundamentally important.
I'll just add one more quick thing, which is that I think we all were rooting for Luigi to have a heroic moment in the movie. In spite of — or because of — all of his fears and anxiety, I think that became something that we were all attached to. We were waiting for that heroic moment.
Shigeru Miyamoto: Creating the scene where Luigi has this heroic moment, and the fact that maybe Luigi comes out of all of this with a bit of confidence, is something that we had many, many iterations of; going back and forth.
Chris Meladandri: I have to mention one other thing, because it just came to mind. Very early on in our conversation, Mr. Miyamoto pointed out that we should never make fun of Mario and Luigi's occupation. Even though you could find a joke about it, we're not going to go there. We're going to respect their occupation. There were things like that, which happened early on in our conversations, that became very important to the trajectory of the movie.
We suspect this is just the beginning. How much have you planned for this new cinematic universe's future. Perhaps Super Mario Galaxy for future a installment?
Chris Meladandri: We are so focused right now on this movie, all the way up to Wednesday, and how the audience engages with the film. Nintendo and Illumination have had a really rewarding collaboration. Mr. Miyamoto and his colleagues have invited me to join the board of directors of Nintendo, and we're working together into the future with me in that capacity. But it's hard for us to talk about anything else at this time.
Shigeru Miyamoto: Like Chris mentioned, there's nothing we can share now. But I'm sure we will continue working on this partnership.
Chris, can you talk to me about the Illimination animation style for Super Mario Bros.?
Chris Meladandri: Aaron and Michael were new to Illumination for the film, and the team around them largely came from the ranks of Illumination artists. We have 750 people in our studio in Paris. When we sat down to talk about the style for this film, the conversation started with the style of Super Mario and Nintendo.
The design language of the movie started with the existing design language, and there was never an interest in trying to take other design influences that came from Illumination films and integrate them into the approach for this film. I'm very proud of the fact that Illumination doesn't have what people refer to as a house style; we try to approach each film individually. Over the first 6 months of discussing the visual approach to the film, we were steeped in looking at the existing character designs, world designs, building designs, color palettes. And that became the starting point.
Shigeru Miyamoto: When we got some of the storyboards and heard that part of it was going to take place in New York, we thought we would get already existing assets or ideas that Illumination tion had. But when we got the storyboard, I was so surprised because it was completely different.
Chris Meladandri: I do think that the caliber of the artists at illumination is often overlooked. In our past, people tended to just write about the success of the movie; they don't really focus enough on the artistry. Miyamoto-san was, from the beginning, clued into the quality of the craftsmanship, the creative expression, and the artistry. Our films ultimately come down to the collection of individuals working on the film. No matter what our aspirations are, we ultimately are reliant on that artistry to realize the film in a way that really is as spectacular as we believe it is.
I have a 7-year-old daughter who is extremely excited for Super Mario Bros., but her favorite movie of all time is The Secret Life of Pets. How different is it tackling an original IP like Despicable Me or The Secret Life of Pets versus the collaboration process in Super Mario Bros.?
Chris Meladandri: Before we started to work with Nintendo, we were more of an island. If you think about a movie like The Secret Life of Pets, that idea came from me and was developed in our world, and our systems supported that creative process; we were just working within the structure of our studio.
For us, this collaboration brought with it brand-new opportunities and also allowed us to really grow and evolve. The first thing that happened when we committed to work together, was that the entire company and the entire studio were energized by this decision. They all have grown up on Nintendo, and they love these characters. By opening up our process and saying we're going to embrace a true creative partnership, because it was Nintendo and because it was Mario, we got this incredible excitement among our team.
If you were to ask all of the many people — because it takes so many people to make one of these films — what their experience was making it, trading art back and forth, Nintendo adjusting it and then integrating adjustments? They will tell you that it was exciting and inspiring. They felt a great degree of responsibility, andit's been a new experience for us. But it's been one that has been really energizing.
Shigeru Miyamoto: I really am appreciative of the partnership we do have. It's been 40 years since we created Mario and, with this opportunity to work both with Illumination on the movie and Universal for the theme park, we were able to work with the creatives on the ground making these things.
As Chris had mentioned, a lot of them have grown up with Mario and have a lot of love for him. To see them work as if this was their own creation was something that I felt was my job to make sure that everybody was enjoying the work that they were doing. That was a really great experience for me as well.I think we're gonna have to watch this movie 5 times in order to catch all of the Nintendo Easter eggs in it.
Are there any games or characters that you wanted to include in Super Mario Bros. that either didn't quite fit or didn't work out for whatever reason?
Shigeru Miyamoto: The staff at Illumination really know Nintendo, and there's just so much that we wanted to incorporate as Easter eggs. But because this story originates in the 8-bit era, we decided that we should focus on that. Because if we didn't, it would just be so much.
About The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Mario and Luigi a pair of plumber brothers from Brooklyn are accidentally transported to the Mushroom Kingdom. Thrown into this unexpected adventure they meet Princess Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong. The Super Mario Bros will also face the terrifying Bowser, King of the Koopas, who is bent on destroying the Mushroom Kingdom.
Check out our other Super Mario Bros. interviews here:
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now playing in theaters.