Chris Pratt and his fourthcoming film 'Super Mario Bros' have been garnering a lot of backlash. Recently, the first teaser of the film was dropped, and it triggered a meme fest with netizens making fun of Chris' voice. However, now the actor John Leguizamo, who voiced Mario's brother Luigi in Bob Hoskins' 1993 movie 'Mario', is reacting to the controversial casting.
Just like the netizens, John also somewhere feels that Mario's casting is not up to the mark. During his recent chat with Indiewire, the actor said that he feels the movie went "backwards" after casting two white actors as the voices of Mario and Luigi.
''I’m O.G. A lot of people love the original," Leguizamo said when asked to share his thoughts on the new movie.
"I did Comic-Con in New York and in Baltimore, and everyone was like, No, no, we love the old one, the original. They’re not feeling the new one. I'm not angry. It's unfortunate," he said further.
Leguizamo, 62, added further, "The directors, Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, fought really hard for me to be the lead because I was a Latin man, and they [the studio] didn’t want me to be the lead.''
"They fought really hard, and it was such a breakthrough. For them to go backwards and not cast another [actor of color], that kind of stinks."
He added, "A lot of people love the original. I did Comic-Con in New York and in Baltimore, and everyone was like, No, no, we love the old one, the original. They're not feeling the new one. I'm not bitter. It's unfortunate."
However, this is not the first time that the Latin actor has reacted to the news. In October, calling the casting "too bad," the actor tweeted, "It's too bad they went all white!" There are no Latinx leaders! Groundbreaking colourblind casting in the original! Plus, I’m the only one who knows how to make this movie work script-wise!''
The film's casting has been a point of discussion since the day the casting was officially confirmed last year, with many fans questioning whether Pratt will be able to voice Mario in his Italian accent or not. The film's cast includes Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.