We break down the collaboration between Nintendo and Illumination and the journey to SuperMarioMovie with Shigeru Miyamoto & Chris Meledandri, from deciding on an origin story to incorporating various Super Mario games:
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.
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? have come the different games. What's the journey? And what's the terrain that the journey will take us through?
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. 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.
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.
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: 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.
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.
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.?
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