American stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco has revealed that he has a role in Illumination's upcoming Super Mario movie, and people are speculating that it signals a return for an old and relatively minor Nintendo character in the film.
As a guest on the 5th August edition of the Bertcast, a podcast hosted by fellow comedian Bert Kreischer, Maniscalco was asked about his plans for the rest of the day and he replied thusly:
I'm in a movie, Super Mario Bros., an animated movie. So I'm playing, erm, Spike, their boss. So I'm gonna do that at 12.
Spike? Who's Spike? you might ask. Well, as @Eponge2L on Twitter was quick to point out, Foreman Spike starred in Wrecking Crew alongside the Mario Bros., so it's likely this is who Maniscalco is referring to:
You can watch the entire episode yourself and get the full context on Kreischer's archived YouTube video of the show. While Maniscalco is a stand-up first and foremost, he has previously lent his acting talents to such Hollywood productions as Green Book and Martin Scorsese's The Irishman.
It should be noted that there's also an Super Mario Bros. enemy called Spike — as Bob L'ésponge also points out below — although it would seem (to us, at least) far more likely that the Foreman will be featuring in the film in a speaking role rather than the little green dude that throws spiky balls at the plumber.
If you've forgotten about Wrecking Crew and are looking to familiarise yourself with this NES/Famicom game, it's available as part of Nintendo Switch Online's NES library. The Arcade Archives VS. Wrecking Crew version is also available on Switch eShop if you can't get enough of the 'Crew and you're really gonna wreck it.
As for the movie itself, we heard last year that it was "making good progress", and in May we reported that Chris Meledandri, the founder of animation company Illumination, now had a "non-executive outside director" role at Nintendo. More recently, we heard that Universal's new streaming exclusivity deal with Peacock will affect the upcoming animated film.
Foreman Spike, eh? Let us know below if you believe we'll be seeing him return on the big screen or if there's another Spike you think will be assuming the boss role in the upcoming Mario movie.
[source youtube.com, via twitter.com]
