Voice acting might look easy from the outside. Step into a booth, read a few lines, maybe do a couple takes, and you’re done, right? Not exactly. As Anya Taylor-Joy recently revealed, recording for The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a lot more physically demanding than she expected. In fact, it was so intense that the first time she recorded Princess Peach lines for The Super Mario Bros. Movie (which can be streamed now via Peacock subscription) she totally threw up. Yes, really.
During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Taylor-Joy opened up about her experience voicing Princess Peach for the predecessor to the 2026 calendar release, explaining that going into her first recording session, she didn’t fully grasp just how taxing the work would be. Unlike traditional acting, where physicality is often spread out across scenes with frequent pauses and breaks, voice work — especially in an action-heavy movie — usually requires sustained bursts of energy with very little downtime. In her words:
It's super fun, but I will say the first time I ever did a session, I did not realize how taxing it would be, because you're yelling continuously the whole time. I think the first time I ever did it, I threw up. I’m pretty sure. I drank so much water, and I was like, ‘Gotta do it!’
That isn’t the kind of behind-the-scenes detail you usually hear about the best animated movies. But it does make sense when you think about it. Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie isn’t exactly standing still. She’s running, fighting, reacting, and constantly on the move. All of that has to come through in the voice alone, which means a lot of shouting and repetition. And apparently, a lot of hydration.
If that first story wasn’t surprising enough, Taylor-Joy also broke down one of the more unusual parts of voice acting: something called “efforts.” These are typically recorded at the end of a session to capture all the physical sounds that accompany action scenes. Think grunts, gasps, yells, and all those in-between noises that sell the intensity of what’s happening onscreen. And according to the Witch star:
And, at the end of the session, they do something called efforts… Efforts are effortful. So you do it at the end of a session, and it’s essentially like the action sequence, but you're doing it standing by yourself in a booth. So you’re, like [makes expressive sounds]. And you're just doing that for like half an hour, which makes you feel really cool.
"Efforts" sound a little ridiculous when you describe them, but they're also kind of fascinating. You’re essentially acting out an entire action sequence using nothing but your voice, with no set, no co-stars, and no physical movement to rely on, but just pure energy.
Hearing stories like this definitely changes how you think about voice performances in some of the greatest animated movies of all time. It’s easy to focus on the final product and forget how much work goes into making those characters feel alive. In Taylor-Joy’s case, that meant pushing herself physically in ways she didn’t expect, all to bring Princess Peach to life in a way that felt dynamic and believable.
And hey, we get to see Peach return to the big screen soon, and this time she might not be the only royal on the block, as fan favorite Rosalina is set to appear and could finally answer that connective theory so many Mario Galaxy fans have debated for years. All will be revealed in the upcoming sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which lands in theaters on April 1, 2026.
