The Super Mario Bros. Movie star Anya Taylor-Joy reveals how Princess Peach has been updated to avoid common damsel in distress tropes. Based on the beloved Nintendo video game, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. The movie follows Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, as he teams up with Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach to stop Jack Black’s Bowser from conquering the world.
Ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie release date later this week, Taylor-Joy explains to SlashFilm how Princess Peach has been updated for the new adaptation. While Princess Peach may be an iconic character from the games, she was never exactly three-dimensional and often fell into numerous damsel-in-distress tropes, something that the film thankfully avoids. Check out Taylor-Joy’s full comment on her new and improved character below:
“When I was first approached about playing Peach, I was, A) extremely honored, but B) a little bit hesitant just because in my head, before I met everybody, I thought, “Oh, I really want to do this, but I only want to do it if she is a modern — not only princess, but ruler.” She’s really a leader in this. I felt like we could create a more three-dimensional character that had her own agency.
I was so thrilled when I first met everybody that everyone was on the same page. We all wanted to do the same thing. That just made for a very exciting process because there are moments where I did want to call back to the original game and have that fandom payoff in that way. But also, it wouldn’t have worked for the whole of the movie. She’s a three-dimensional character now. You have to have colors in her voice. I just feel very grateful that I was supported every step of the way and that there wasn’t any pushback.”
The Biggest Challenge Facing The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Taylor-Joy’s comments about updating Princess Peach highlight one of the biggest challenges facing The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which is really that none of the characters in the games would work as-is in a feature film. Video games and movies are inherently very different, but the Super Mario Bros. games first came out at a time when the technology didn’t totally exist to put emotive, three-dimensional characters in complex storylines.
In order to make Mario a compelling protagonist, he can’t just be lifted from the games and plopped into a movie storyline. Most effective protagonists have flaws and, over the course of a film, undergo some kind of arc. Mario has a very clear goal of rescuing Princess Peach in the original games, but he’s not exactly a complex character with inner feelings or emotions.
Characters like Luigi and even Black’s Bowser villain will need to undergo similar treatments in order to be adapted into a movie. Of course, by adding dimensions and fleshing out Mario and the other characters, The Super Mario Bros. Movie also risks making decisions that alienate the audience or stray too far from the source material. It remains to be seen how The Super Mario Bros. Movie will adapt all of these beloved characters, but, if done right, the film could join other recent projects that have broken the video game adaptation curse.
Key Release Dates
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Release Date:2023-04-05
