Chris Pratt Started ‘Crash-Dieting’ and Stopped Drinking After Being Told He Was ‘Too Fat’ For a Role
Before Chris Pratt established himself as an action hero, he received criticism about his weight. And when he was told he was “too fat” for a role, the actor went on a crash diet and stopped drinking to get it. Here’s how it went down:
Chris Pratt was told he was ‘too fat’ for his ‘Moneyball’ role
Pratt rose to fame in the early 2000s as Andy Dwyer in the hit NBC sitcom, Parks and Recreation. And by 2010, he had appeared in nearly a dozen comedy films, including Bride Wars and Deep in the Valley.
But in 2011, the future Guardians of the Galaxy star made a pivot to drama with the role of Scott Hatteberg in Moneyball. However, when he first auditioned for the part, the actor was told he needed to lose weight.
“My agent called me and said, ‘Chris, they really thought you were good, but they think you’re too fat,'” Pratt said in 2011, as HuffPost reports. “I was like, ‘F***, really? That sucks. OK, well, I can lose weight. Did you tell them I could lose weight?’ ‘Yeah, we told them. They haven’t offered it to anyone else. There’s no guarantee, but…'”
“It was another three months before I found out I got the role,” Pratt continued. “But in that three months, I think I dropped 30 pounds. I was bound and determined to become Scott Hatteberg whether they cast me or not.”
Chris Pratt quit drinking and went on a strict diet for ‘Moneyball’
After Pratt’s agents told him that the Moneyball casting team felt he was “too fat,” the actor decided to transform his body. To slim down, he went on a strict diet and quit drinking alcohol.
“That was the first time I heard someone say, ‘We’re not gonna cast you — you’re too fat,'” Pratt told Vanity Fair in 2017. “So I decided to drop the weight, like in wrestling. I couldn’t afford a trainer, so it was all running and crash-dieting and cutting alcohol.”
Pratt earned widespread acclaim for his performance in Moneyball. The film received multiple Academy Award nominations and helped launch Pratt’s career as a leading man.
Chris Pratt is now one of Hollywood’s biggest action heroes
After Moneyball, Pratt went on to star in dramas like Zero Dark Thirty and Her. But in 2014, the actor established himself as a leading man and action hero with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. He reprised his role as the superhero Peter Quill, aka Starlord, for several other Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
In 2015, Pratt took on the lead role of Owen Grady in Jurassic World. He returned for both sequels: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World: Dominion.
Some of Pratt’s other action projects include The Magnificent Seven and The Tomorrow War. He is also set to reprise his role as Navy Seal James Reece in season 2 of the Amazon Prime Video series, The Terminal List.
