Jack Black's Bowser Was Inspired By This Star Wars Character
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" will finally release on April 5 after what feels like years of hype, but not everything about the film seemed quite up to snuff for some fans. After the cast was announced, the main criticism many "Mario" fans had was that the voice actors didn't seem to match their characters. While we don't know how deeply each actor got into their roles, one seems to have taken to his casting like no other: Jack Black. The longtime comedy star will play Bowser in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," and from what audiences have seen of his performance, most agree it was a great fit.
Jack Black is known for his high-energy, bombastic performances, but he hasn't played many villains. He was the bad guy in "The Neverending Story 3," but that was a long time ago. According to an IGN interview with the actor published, Black turned to "Star Wars" for inspiration in finding Bowser's intimidating voice. "Darth Vader has a lower register, and I also had to go lower than my natural speaking voice," Black told IGN. He said he likes playing villains because they're the ones that make things dramatic and exciting, and offered Vader as a reference for what makes a great villain.
"It's like, Darth Vader is my favorite part of Star Wars, and without Darth Vader, that movie's really boring," Black said. "You got to have the spice of a real danger, evil lurking in the shadows."
Bowser was inspired by Darth Vader - but his accent was nearly wildly different
Chris Pratt being cast as Mario was one of the most questionable choices for some, and his performance as seen in the "Super Mario Bros. Movie" trailers didn't inspire much confidence in these critics. On the other hand, Jack Black seems just as enthusiastic about the role as any diehard "Mario" fan would be. The cast and crew did the usual press tour leading up to the movie's release and Pratt, Keegan Michael-Key (Toad), and Charlie Day (Luigi) joined Black on the Kelly Clarkson show. He showed up in costume — well, in a Bowser onesie, one the show actually had to blur to put on T.V.
But though Black told IGN that he was happy with the final result of the character, he also revealed that Bowser could have sounded completely different. While experimenting with voices to figure out what would match the character, Black said that he tried both a British accent and a Southern twang. "I did a lot of different things and eventually landed on what I did in the movie," Black said to IGN. "I was really relieved that we were able to find something that fit really well with the look of Bowser."
Eventually, he settled on a sort of twist of his own voice with a Vader-esque intimidatingly low register, and it resonated with fans. From what fans have seen so far, Black is all but sure to give us the Bowser we all want in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie."