Chris Pratt Went Through an Identity Crisis Before Doing ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Chris Pratt began to question the type of actor he was before he was cast in Guardians of the Galaxy. Fortunately, the Marvel feature helped Pratt find himself.
Chris Pratt wasn’t sure if he was an action guy or a comedy guy before ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Before being cast in Guardians of the Galaxy, Pratt was mostly known for the hit comedy series Parks & Recreation. The show afforded Pratt work at a time when he felt discouraged by the film industry. He’d already tried out for several lucrative roles outside the comedy genre. Most involved rejections. One of those movies was James Cameron’s Avatar, where he was politely told he didn’t have what it took to lead the feature.
“They said they want somebody that has ‘that thing,’ that ‘It factor,”’ he once told Entertainment Weekly. ”I walked into that room knowing that I did not have that thing, and I walked out thinking I would never have that thing, probably. I figured I’ll find a way to make money, and if that means I’m playing character roles, that’s terrific. People have to work. I just don’t want it to be at a f***ing restaurant.”
Pratt even tried out for a few Marvel films, such as Captain America and Thor. After Thor, however, he pretty much swore off auditioning for Marvel movies in general.
“It got to the point where I was never gonna audition for Marvel again. I was like, ‘This is stupid, I’m never gonna be in a Marvel movie,'” Pratt said on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
This changed when his team suggested he try out for Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Pratt would revoke his earlier vow and audition for a Marvel film again. But this was partially because he hit a major crossroads as an actor.
“At the time, I had been having an identity crisis as an actor. I didn’t know what I was and whether I was an action guy or a comedy guy. I thought, ‘Maybe I could do a combination of both, but there’s nothing out there that’s like that. Maybe I have to develop something,'” Pratt once told Collider. “And my manager just kept saying, Guardians of the Galaxy. So, I said, ‘Maybe you’re right. Let’s go meet on it.’ And then, James said, ‘I just want somebody to do their thing.’ I had an idea what that thing was, and it’s that thing that I got to do in this movie.”
Chris Pratt beat out his past competition to star in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Pratt was used to facing stiff competition during Marvel auditions. One of the reasons he seemed discouraged from testing for Guardians of the Galaxy was facing actors who beat him for previous roles. But Pratt began to notice that the usual top choices for these films were being rejected. This gave Pratt confidence that he could’ve been James Gunn’s guy.
“I remember originally they were like, ‘Hey, what do you think about this Guardians of the Galaxy idea.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know — I feel fat. I don’t want to go embarrass myself and have them say no to me.’ Then, I would go online and see this list. They were like ‘The Dream List,’ and it would be 25 actors, all of whom have beaten me out for roles,” Pratt once told MTV News. “I wasn’t even on the list. I was like, ‘No way. That’s a bad idea.’ I was circling around it for a long time, and they kept testing people and testing people, and no one was right for it.”
Reaching common ground with Gunn and testing for the role was what finally sealed the deal for Pratt.
“I went in and met the director, James, and something happened in that room. He gave me a sense of what he wanted. I, of course, wasn’t able to read a script until essentially after signing up to do the movie. I could tell from what he wanted that it was something I close to what I could give,” he added. “It started just becoming real. Then it did. I had a screen test for it. Even during the screen test, I was like, ‘Oh, I got this. This is mine. This is mine now.’ I knew going in.”
