When making an animated movie, the voice actors can go through the entire process without meeting any of the rest of the cast. For Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Princess Peach in the new Super Mario Bros movie, this led to excitement when she got to do press with Jack Black, who plays Bowser.
Taylor-Joy is a huge fan of Black’s movies, as well as his band Tenacious D, and she even credits him with helping her learn English when she first moved to London from Argentina at age six. She was reportedly reluctant to learn English for the first couple of years, as she believed that if she continued to speak Spanish, her parents would take her back to Argentina.
“At the school I went to when I first moved to London they would play School of Rock every Friday,” Taylor-Joy told Buzzfeed UK. “At that time, I didn’t really speak much English, if any, so that and Harry Potter and Jumanji are like how I learned English!”
“I didn’t realize I was going to be doing the press day for this movie with Jack Black, so when I read that, the sound that came out of me was just this high pitch shriek that I was not expecting! We haven’t met each other because we all recorded our parts individually, so I was super starstruck when I saw the schedule for today.”
Taylor-Joy continued; “I very seldom get like that, but I was just running around earlier like, ‘Oh my God, Tenacious D, this is amazing.'” Taylor-Joy added that Tenacious D’s Tribute is her go-to karaoke song; “I do all the voices. That’s always awesome.”
2023 marks the 20th anniversary of School of Rock, and Black has promised that there will be a reunion with the now-adult kids who formed the band. While we excitedly wait for that, check out our guide to the best family movies.