Anya Taylor-Joy has revealed that she learned English by watching School Of Rock.
The Queen’s Gambit and Furiosa star recently opened up about her love for the 2003 comedy starring Jack Black, who stars alongside her in the recently released Super Mario Bros. Movie. Taylor-Joy voices Princess Peach, while Black plays Bowser.
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“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!”
Taylor-Joy was born in Florida, raised in Argentina, and later moved to the UK at age six. She now stars alongside Black in the animated Mario movie, but they did not meet each other until the press tour.
“I didn’t realise 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!” Taylor-Joy said.
”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.”
She added: “I very seldom get like that, but I was just running around earlier like, ‘Oh my God, Tenacious D, this is amazing.’”
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Taylor-Joy noted that Tenacious D’s ‘Tribute’ is her go-to karaoke song: “I do all the voices. That’s always awesome,” she said.
The actress previously told The Wall Street Journal that she refused to learn English for two years after moving to London, in an attempt to force her parents to move back to South America. Now, in her interview with Buzzfeed, Taylor-Joy has revealed that she’d like to make a film in her first language.
“I’d love to make a movie in Spanish, so any Spanish-speaking directors. I’d love to do that,” she said.
School of Rock celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Lead actor Black recently confirmed that he is planning a reunion with the original cast.
“All those kids, dig this, they were 10 years old when we made that movie and now they’re all, like, 30,” Black told Entertainment Tonight. “We’re going to get together and have a 20-year anniversary. We like to jam. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the grownups from School of Rock.”
Elsewhere, Black recently opened up his desire to return as the voice of Bowser for a Super Mario Bros. sequel, adding that he wants The Last Of Us and The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal to play Wario.