John Leguizamo Jokes About His New Film vs. ‘Super Mario Bros.’ (Exclusive) ArticlePure

John Leguizamo is leveraging an early onscreen skill for his latest role!

In his new movie Bob Trevino Likes It, the 64-year-old actor plays the titular Bob, whom a young woman named Lily (Barbie Ferreira) friends on Facebook thinking he is her estranged father Robert Trevino (French Stewart).

Inspired by true events from writer/director Tracie Laymon‘s life, the story sees Lily and Bob strike up an unlikely yet poignant online friendship — which kicks off in person when Bob, who works in construction, stops by Lily’s house to help her fix a faulty toilet.

Speaking with PEOPLE about the movie, which premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas, Leguizamo jokes that he “got my plumbing skills from” playing Luigi in 1993’s live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, which saw him opposite the late Bob Hoskins as Mario.

“It was the first time that they were doing a video game turned into a movie. Nobody was doing that kind of stuff,” Leguizamo recalls, praising the sci-fi fantasy cult classic’s directors, Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel. “Now everybody’s doing it.”

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Speaking to how he and Euphoria actress Ferreira, 28, related in real life, Leguizamo says, “We’re both Latinos and we connected on that, and we’re both from Queens, and I think there was a lot to connect with.”

“Barbie’s incredibly engaging in presence, so she’s a blast to be with no matter what,” he adds. “And we also knew, as good actors, you gotta work on that relationship. You can’t fake it; you have to create it off-camera, so that it slides into the on-camera work you’re doing.”

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Leguizamo — who is dad to daughter Allegra, born in 1999, and son Lucas, born in 2000, with wife of 21 years Justine Maurer — also shared with PEOPLE how his own experience as a parent in real life helped shape his character.

“Having kids changes you completely for the rest of your life and it’s a gift that keeps on giving, but you also worry for the rest of your life,” he says. “So with Bob Trevino, it was easy to create this loneliness that this man had, because I could just picture myself if I’d never had kids now, I would miss them so much that I would be lonely.”

“So that’s how it kind of created the character having this hole in his life, and that’s why he wants to be sort of this surrogate father for Lily,” Leguizamo continues.

As for how the role of Bob has made him a “better parent” in real life, the actor, comedian and activist adds, “Learning from Bob Trevino is learning that you don’t know everything. You don’t have to know everything. You just got to be there.”

Bob Trevino Likes It opens in select theaters in Los Angeles and New York City on Friday, March 21, with a wider release on March 28.