Jack Black On Getting To The Core Of “Peaches” In ‘Super Mario Bros’ & Why Tenacious D Won’t Go The Way Of Hall & Oates – Crew Call Podcast

Anthony D'Alessandro

15 December 2023 at 3:34 pm·2-min read

“Ya know, I did go full method,” reveals Jack Black to us on Crew Call in regards to how he prepped for the role of Mega villain Bowser in Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie.

“I gained seven pounds, only eating Bowser-type food, which ironically is similar to my type of food: cheeseburgers, fries, just like De Niro would,” says the multihyphenate song and thespian man.

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“It’s amazing how the research for Bowser was similar to what I was already doing, but, by God, I did it.”

At the top of today’s conversation with Black is how he came to craft the power ballad “Peaches” with Tenacious D producing partner John Spiker which Bowser booms in the $1.36 billion grossing animated movie. Katy Perry had “The One That Got Away,” and well, this is Bowser’s take on that as he moans about the girl who’ll always run away, that being Princess Peaches (voiced by Anya Taylor Joy).

“I overcame my fear of mixing my rock and my acting,” says Black about co-writing the song with directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, film editor Eric Osmond and Spiker.

We chat with Black about forming Tenacious D with Kyle Gass, how they’ve stuck together through thick and thin unlike Hall & Oates (“The secret to our success, we are aware that the band is the greater than the sum of its parts. What breaks bands up are ego…”), implementing pyro in their “Spicey Meatball” Tour, as well as honing his comedy and musical chops at Santa Monica’s Crossroads School (he landed the title role in the high school musical Pippin; classmate Maya Rudolph was an inspiration), and recording a song at former White Stripes bandmember Jack White’s Nashville studio.

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