If you were a little surprised by the announcement that Star Fox would be in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and played by Glen Powell, you weren’t the only one. The simple fact that such a notable non-Mario character was in the movie felt like a spoiler despite it being officially announced by way of a real poster.
Then, when news broke that it would be Powell voicing the iconic character, things made a little more sense. Saving a big reveal for the theater is one thing, but increasing box office numbers by adding Powell to the cast is another. Nintendo and Illumination went for the latter.
But how did Powell make his way into this movie seemingly at the last minute? Well, according to those at Nintendo, he forced his way in and has dreams of doing even more with the character.
Glen Powell Called Nintendo About The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a huge hit at the box office, and it’s already spawned a sequel three years later. Based on some of the marketing, it looks like it’s about to birth a massive, sprawling franchise. Glen Powell, when he saw the first movie, wanted to be a part of that franchise.
Following that movie, two notable actors called Nintendo essentially pitched themselves as a part of the series. Powell was one of them. Screenwriter Chris Meledandri revealed this in an interview with Forbes, saying that it was Powell himself who essentially got himself the role as Fox McCloud.
“When we were working on the first movie, we began to get phone calls from actors. They started communicating their enthusiasm… [Powell] explained that we had to understand how deeply he loved the character of Fox McCloud. His dream was one day to be part of a Star Fox movie. I’m listening to this going, ‘he has no idea that Miyamoto-san and I are talking about Star Fox being in this new movie,’ and Glen is expressing this passion for this,” the writer said.
“What happened was that after we spoke about it, we had decided we wanted Star Fox to appear in this new movie as a surprise,” Meledandri continued. “When I called Glen back, I said, ‘Look, I want you to have a conversation, but it has to be completely secret, you cannot talk it to anyone,’ as no one knew this character would be so close to this movie. On top of that, we felt that there was a Glen Powell kind of attitude to the character, and he feels perfectly suited to that role. It was one of those gifts.
Wondering about who the other actor Meledandri mentioned was? It was Donald Glover, the voice of Yoshi. “[It was] Donald Glover, and he was like, ‘I need to be involved, if there’s any way with a Nintendo movie.’ We loved him as an actor and a creator, as well as a filmmaker, and so he came in, and we sat down, and he said, ‘I will do the most incredible Yoshi’. So it was really interesting that these two casting ideas came from the actors themselves,” Meledandri finished.
As for what’s next, before seeing the film (tickets for Friday, so stay tuned for the review), it is easy to predict where this is headed. Fox McCloud and the Pikmin are not Mario characters, so the fact that they’re in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a clear indicator that a Super Smash Bros. movie is on the way.
But as they continue broadening the horizons here, it’s extremely likely that Glen Powell will helm a Star Fox movie at some point. If a true movie star like that begs to play a character, he is probably going to end up being the lead in his own movie instead of a tiny side character eventually.
Conclusion
It was a huge and welcome surprise that Glen Powell was added to an already stacked cast that includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Donald Glover, Brie Larson, and many others. His role as Fox McCloud was a bit surprising, too, but now that we know it’s been his dream for a long time and that he’s clearly the world’s biggest Star Fox fan, it all makes sense.
