Anthony Scapelli

Anthony Scapelli
Species	Human Australopithecus (after de-evolution)
First appearance	Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Portrayed by	Gianni Russo "Corey" (the chimp they used to interpret Scapelli's australopithecus form)

“Scapelli! They beat us again!”

—Mario, Super Mario Bros.

Anthony Scapelli is a character in the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film, played by Gianni Russo. He is the head contractor of Scapelli Construction, rivaling Mario and Luigi's plumbing business, Mario Bros. Plumbing.

History

Super Mario Bros. film

Scapelli's de-evolved australopithecus form

A TV news announcer explains that Scapelli Construction's project has been halted due to the finding of dinosaur fossils in the area, prompting the New York University to begin an excavation project. Anthony Scapelli is introduced arriving to the scene with businessmen acting as his bodyguards. He asks the excavation team who the head of the team is, and Daisy speaks up to announce that's her. Scapelli demands her to stop her excavation, and Daisy responds saying the research is very important and that the constant harassment from Scapelli's "goons" has been slowing progress further. Anthony Scapelli threatens Daisy, causing Daisy to leave, letting James know she plans to call the university for more security. Later, Scapelli's workers are seen fleeing from the dig site, having sabotaged the excavation team's project by breaking several pipes and flooding the dig site. It is revealed late in the movie by Iggy and Spike that it was a human accidentally broke the wall between the dimensions of Earth and Dinohattan; Mario reasons this was accidentally done by Scapelli's employees.

At the end of the film, Scapelli and two of his businessmen are present at the dig site when the two dimensions are briefly merged by Lena. Daniella and the previously kidnapped women begin alerting the news press and everyone present that there is an incoming invasion from another dimension. Though Koopa's Tower merges with the World Trade Center, Anthony Scapelli laughs and calls the whole event a publicity stunt. President Koopa appears as a result of the merge, and attempts to hit Mario with the Devolution Gun. Mario dodges the blast, hitting Anthony Scapelli and de-evolving him into a australopithecus. A surprised Mario asks, "Scapelli?" and the de-evolved australopithecus Scapelli responds with a facepalm. His employees pick him up, confused and worried.

Deleted scene

A deleted scene at the Riverfront Cafe would have revealed that Mario states to have grown up with Anthony Scapelli.

Gallery

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  Scapelli as a australopithecus.

Trivia

• Anthony Scapelli was named after the old advertising boss of Parker Bennett and Terry Runté, Bob Scarpelli.
• In early drafts of the script, he was named Eddie Scapelli, and was initially meant to be related to Mario's girlfriend Daniella.
• The Super Mario Bros. film manga, Super Mario Makai Teikoku no Megami, omits his character altogether but does feature three unrelated humans that get turned into monkeys to fulfill his role.
• It is possible the character Wario or Foreman Spike partially inspired the creation of this character. But it is possible that the character is inspired more by Foreman Spike than Wario, because both are antagonists that work as the head of a construction project or company.
• Anthony Scapelli's transformation to a australopithecus refers to Donkey Kong, especially in earlier scripts where he has a close connection to Daniella (The film's interpretation of Pauline). Notice he's also at a construction site, where the Donkey Kong arcade game was set.
• When Scapelli de-evolves into an australopithecus, instead of an animatronic of australopithecus, a chimpanzee was used instead. so much so that the film's creators mistake australopithecus for a chimpanzee