Super Mario Bros. animated movie actor lets slip his obscure role
Spike too soon.
We knew next to nothing about Nintendo's upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated movie - until today, when US stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco let slip he will play a character in the film.
Nintendo has been typically tight-lipped about the plot of the movie, which marks Mario's big-screen return after an understandably long hiatus.
But, speaking of long absences, how about this? Maniscalco revealed he would voice Spike, Mario's boss - a character likely based on Foreman Spike from NES game Wrecking Crew in 1985.
Foreman Spike is a bearded antagonist who has only popped up a handful of times in Nintendo games over the years. He's certainly not someone most Nintendo fans would have expected to see on screen.
Maniscalco did not seem too concerned about keeping his role secret, however.
Speaking on the Bertcast podcast, when asked what he was doing later that day, Maniscalco replied that he was recording dialogue:
"I'm in the movie Super Mario Bros., an animated movie," Maniscalco said. "I'm playing Spike, their boss. So I'm gonna do that, at 12."
Officially, Nintendo has simply said that work on the film is still going smoothly at Minions production company Illumination despite the pandemic. First announced back in 2017, the animated Super Mario Bros. movie is finally due for a release due in 2022.