Super Mario Bros. - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Super Mario Bros. or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Super Mario Bros.

[darrell]

The disintegration effect for the inter-dimensional merge was inspired by the Transporter from Star Trek: The Original Series (1966).

[stephanie]

An early draft of the script shows that Bowser only disguises himself as a human in his first two scenes, the Princess character is named Hildy and Bowser wants to marry her in attempt to obtain the Crown of Invincibility with which to take over the Mushroom Kingdom. Actual game enemies such as Piranha Plants and Thwomps make appearances, Toad accompanies the Mario Bros. throughout their journey as a main character, a baby dinosaur named Junior thinks Mario is his mother, Luigi gets Raccoon Power at one point, one of Bowser's lackeys (a possible prototype for Kamek) tells Mario "Your Princess Is in Another Castle", Mario and Luigi sing a song for Bowser, Bowser ends up falling into a pit of lava... In other words, this draft is much more faithful to the games.

[sandra]

The concept of a parallel universe inhabited by dinosaurs was inspired by Dinosaur Land from the recently released Super Mario World (1990).

[lynn]

The set for Dinohattan was built in an abandoned cement factory called the Ideal Cement Factory in the woods outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. Set designs were adapted to the existing structure of the building. This factory was also used as the Shredder and the Foot Clan's hideout in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and Top Dollar's nightclub in The Crow (1994).

[frederick]

This was one of four Disney films under consideration for the Best Visual Effects award at the 66th Academy Awards. Of the four, the Academy ultimately nominated The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

[elmer]

King Koopa's appearance may have been inspired by Donald Trump.

[kenzi]

Rocky Morton reflected on the movie in 2016 as a "harrowing" experience. He explained that he and Annabel Jankel, along with the rest of the cast, agreed to make the movie based on the script originally written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, which focused on Mario and Luigi's complicated but loving family dynamic that they had developed in the absence of their parents. However, just a few weeks before shooting was to begin, the studio financing the film demanded significant rewrites to make the film more childlike and comedic. The final result, according to Morton, was a script that was not at all like the script that he, Jenkel, and the cast had signed on to film, and that the tone of the new script was not at all compatible with the sets, which had already been built. Morton also reflected that he felt very uneasy being put in the position of having to defend the new script. In addition, working with Dennis Hopper was "really, really hard. Really hard. I don't think [Dennis Hopper] had a clue what was going on." Despite describing the overall experience as humiliating, Morton is proud of the film considering the chaos created as a result of the late and unexpected script rewrites.

[leo]

The pan over the city towards Koopa's tower was done by one man over a period of six months and was deemed impossible beforehand.

[charlie]

Jerry Goldsmith was attached to score the film but pulled out due to scheduling conflicts.

[elmer]

Bob Hoskins didn't know that the film he was making was based on a game until his son asked him what he was working on. When Hoskins mentioned the film's title, his son immediately recognized it and showed Hoskins the game on his own Nintendo.

[darrell]

Mojo Nixon was legitimately terrified of Dennis Hopper, particularly the scene where he was de-evolving and strapped to the chair.

[lynn]

According to Mojo Nixon, he was cast in the role of Toad because the production wanted an actual musician for the character, but their first choice Tom Waits was unavailable. Nixon's agent pitched him to casting as a "third-rate Tom Waits for half-price."

[eli]

During a chase scene, Bob Hoskins broke his finger when the van's door slammed on his hand. For the rest of the film, Hoskins is wearing a cast that was painted pink to look like a hand.

[stephanie]

Kevin Costner turned down the offer to play King Koopa.

[beth]

Patrick Tatopoulos described Yoshi as "an abstract, fantasy T. rex", and designed the baby dinosaur with large eyes to evoke a softer and less menacing quality.

[tom]

In a 2011 interview with The Guardian, Bob Hoskins described the film's production - "It was a fckin' nightmare. The whole experience was a nightmare. It had a husband-and-wife team directing, whose arrogance had been mistaken for talent. After so many weeks their own agent told them to get off the set! Fckin' nightmare. F*ckin' idiots."

[nina]

Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel were constantly at odd with the studio. They wanted a darker, more adult film, while the studio wanted a family film.

[lena]

Originally, the Goombas were only background characters, but their final designs were so impressive that Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel promoted them to main characters with major stunts.

[marc]

Bob Hoskins was cast as Mario because he was believed to be a more profitable actor.