Super Mario Bros. Movie Composer Says Jack Black's “Peaches" Was Pretty Much Improvised on the Fly

Meatloaf would do anything for love... and so would King Koopa. 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie could very well score high in the Best Original Song category at next year's Academy Awards with the fan favorite "Peaches" ballad sung by a lovesick Bowser (Jack Black), who hopes to make Princess Toadstool (Anya Taylor-Joy) his wife.

Black shares writing credit on the track alongside editor Eric Osmond, engineer John Spiker (a longtime collaborator of Black's) and co-directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. While the film's composer — Brian Tyler — didn't have a direct hand in crafting the song, he did enjoy a front-row seat to its improvisational conception.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie composer discusses origins of "Peaches" song

"That was pretty much Jack. He is so good at that stuff," Tyler tells SYFY WIRE. "I'm a big Tenacious D fan as well. I can sing all their songs. I was talking to him about the song, like, ‘Do you just come up with that stuff, lyrically and everything, on the fly? I'm wondering if that's how Tenacious D skits happen.' That is what he does."

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"For doing the piano and all that stuff, it's him being able to riff and almost the less he thinks about it, the funnier it is," the composer continues. "The fact that [he keeps repeating the word 'Peaches'] is funny because it’s almost like Bowser couldn't think of any lyrics. So he just repeats her name. It's absurd. And he's a f-cking amazing singer, too. So, yeah — leave that to Jack, man."

In the official production notes provided by Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment, and Nintendo, Horvath reveals that the song was written over a single night before a demo was sent over to Black. A final version was returned by the actor/musician several days later. "He had added his own twist on it and his pianist played an original music track for it," the director recalls. "We were blown away.”

Black shed even more light on the matter during an interview with IGN, stating that the idea of him performing a song wasn't broached until halfway into the voiceover process.

"I was like, ‘Ooh, I don't know.’ I'm very protective about my singing career with my band, Tenacious D," he said. "I try not to do too many crossovers where my characters sing unless ... that's what we set out to do. 'Are we doing a musical? If we are, then I want to hear the music before I agree to do it.’ So I said, ‘Let me hear what you got, what do you got?’ They sent over this little song, and I just couldn't deny that it was funny. I was like, 'I get it. I see why you want Bowser to do this, tickling the ivories and singing a love song to Peaches.' It was undeniable.”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now available on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD with a plethora of bonus features. You can also catch it on Peacock starting Thursday, August 3.

For more Illumination goodness, head over to Peacock for Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2.