One of the few people who is as famous for their music as they are for their acting prowess, Jack Black has often managed to cross over the two, resulting in projects like School Of Rock or The Pick Of Destiny. Without giving too much away, he does it again with his role as Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the animated feature from the creators of Despicable Me and Minions.
Jack Black voices the movie's antagonist, hunting down Mario (Chris Pratt) and his brother Luigi (Charlie Day), while hoping to marry the kingdom's Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). Due to the massive intellectual property that the movie is based on, plus the fact that family-friendly movies tend to do tremendously well at the box office, there is every chance that this could end up being the biggest movie of 2023.
In the run-up to the release of the movie, JOE actually had the opportunity to chat to Jack Black about his role as the villain, and you can check out that interview in full right here:
Once he clocked that we were from Ireland, Jack Black asked what part we were in, and when we asked him if he had any particular memories of his previous visit here, he shared with us the following:
"[Dublin is] really cool, I love it. My band Tenacious D played Dublin, we opened for Metallica in Marley Park. [...] It was a long time ago, I'm gonna say probably the mid- to late-00s. 2009? 2010? Something like that."
We looked it up, it was August 2008, so he was pretty close! Black continued: "We were terrified going into it, we were like 'I don't think we rock hard enough to open for Metallica. Are they gonna boo us off the stage? What's gonna happen?'
"But it was a perfect mix. The crowd was digging us, and it was one of our best shows ever. And we had a delicious pint of Guinnes to celebrate afterwards. Good times. We stayed at a rad hotel, I think Bono owned the hotel we stayed in? There was cool artwork... I didn't mean to drop that name, hold on let me get that for you... Bono!"
The Super Mario Bros. Movie arrives in Irish cinemas on Wednesday, 5 April, and you can also check out our chats with Black's co-stars Chris Pratt and Charlie Day right here.
