The original SUPER MARIO BROS. The film saw the casting of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito

The behind-the-scenes stories of the original Super Mario Bros. movies are just as crazy as what the movie ended up being. The original script was more in line with Rain Man and was an “life journey” involving Mario and Luigi. It was more of a drama and the production team wanted to add more comedy. The first of many rewrites came from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure writer Ed Solomon, and while he was working on the script, casting was in progress!

The film ended up acting Bob Hoskins like Mario, Giovanni Leguizzamo like Luigi, e Dennis Hopper like Koopa. But there was a list of other actors that the producers followed that would make the film even crazier.

Danny DeVito he was offered the role of Mario along with the director’s chair if he wanted it. They argued with DeVito, but he ended up folding. Arnold Schwarzenegger AND Michael Keaton they were both approached to play Koopa, which is crazy to think about, but both said no. Then there was Tom Hanks, who was considered for the role of Luigi, but after a string of recent box office bombs, they dropped him from consideration. We all know how Hanks’ career turned out.

When it comes to who was cast in the film, director Rocky Morton he explained that it is “basically about availability. There are all these stories about how people are chosen, but normally it’s about availability.”

Discussing the casting of Hoskins and Leguizamo in the lead roles, Morton said: ‘We saw a lot of different Luigis and John stood out for his comedic timing, his ability to be real but also funny at the same time. Bob had that ability We wanted it to have a reality, especially the relationship, and we wanted it to be funny but not just a series of gags”.

I liked Hoskins and Leguizamo in the movie, but it would have been a very different kind of movie if any of these other alternate actors ended up in the movie. It’s fun to picture them in those roles, though!