James Gunn Was ‘Mad’ That Chris Pratt Auditioned for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
It might be difficult for some to imagine anyone other than Chris Pratt as the Marvel superhero Starlord. But before his audition, Pratt was far from director James Gunn’s first choice for the role. So much so that when Pratt first came to test for the character, Gunn didn’t want to see him.
Chris Pratt didn’t want to audition for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
It took some convincing to get Pratt on board Gunn’s Guardians project. Although Pratt would later prove to be ideal casting, he originally wasn’t too interested in auditioning. It took some help from the film’s casting director, Sarah Finn, to bring Pratt and Gunn together.
“[Director] James Gunn has been very generous about this in saying that I, to the point of annoying him, kept insisting that Chris Pratt was the guy for the part,” Finn told Variety. “But Chris didn’t want to play the part and refused to audition.”
Finn would eventually convince Pratt to see Gunn. But that was only half the battle considering Gunn wasn’t too keen on seeing Pratt.
James Gunn was mad at Chris Pratt for auditioning for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Gunn also needed a bit of convincing when it came to auditioning Pratt, let alone casting him. In the beginning, Pratt was barely on Gunn’s radar. But he already auditioned several other actors for Starlord with none leaving an impression.
“We had screen tests of at least 20 people, big stars and no names, looking for the right person because I really wanted somebody who could take it beyond what was on the page in the same way Robert Downey, Jr. did for Iron Man. And nobody blew me away,” Gunn once said at a press conference according to Movie Fanatic.
Eventually, Finn stepped in and suggested casting Pratt. But Gunn resisted the idea.
“Plenty of people were really good. Sarah Finn, our casting director, really deserves the credit for Chris because she kept putting his picture in front of me. I was like, ‘The chubby guy Parks and Rec? Don’t be stupid,’” Gunn recalled.
But Finn persisted. And when the Terminal List actor came in for the audition, Gunn reluctantly relented only to be pleasantly surprised.
“I don’t remember ever agreeing to see Chris. I just remember her saying Chris Pratt’s here. I was a little mad! Then Chris came in and he started to read, and within 20 seconds I was like, ‘Holy s***, that’s the guy.’ That’s who we’ve been looking for,” Gunn said.
Chris Pratt was concerned his physique woulld get him fired from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
Pratt didn’t always sport the muscular physique he does in Guardians. But he put in a tremendous amount of work to mold his body to as close to a superhero’s as possible.
What gave Pratt extra incentive to achieve his new look was a concern that his previous physique would’ve cost him Starlord. He was especially worried about this when Pratt received a few props that belonged to his character. The studio wanted Pratt to send them back pictures of him with a prop, but Pratt was hesitant because of his body.
“They sent me the gun and I think they wanted to see how it matched up against my hand but at the time, all I was worried about was ‘I’m going to send them pictures of me holding this gun and they’re going to think I’m too fat and fire me,’” Pratt once told Collider. “That’s all I remember thinking, I was still very much in the process of losing weight so I was like sucking it in holding the gun, my wife was like, ‘You look uncomfortable in this photo.’ I said, ‘I am! God.’”
