How one failed audition almost derailed Chris Pratt’s career: “I saw the director’s eyes glaze over”
Of the four Hollywood contemporary stars named Chris, Chris Pratt has had a much more unusual route to success than that of Pine, Evans, or Hemsworth.
Pratt had spent years working as a waiter in Hawaii before eventually getting his breakout role in Parks and Recreation, where he played a comic relief character. The announcement that he would be playing Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy came as a massive surprise, as few suspected that someone like him would be the perfect fit to play the hero of a Marvel film.
His performance in Guardians of the Galaxy ended up being an important moment for the industry, as it showed that there was a place for comedy within even the biggest of franchises, and despite being based on a much more obscure line of Marvel comic books, the film ended up performing much better than a lot of the other superhero projects that were presumed to be successful. While much of this was due to the brilliance of writer/director James Gunn, Pratt’s charismatic performance was significant in getting audiences to come back again and again.
Although anyone who saw him in action in Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn’t have doubted him for a second, it was a film he was nearly never a part of because of his negative experiences auditioning for another blockbuster film, as Pratt told The Hollywood Reporter that he nearly didn’t read for the role of Star-Lord because of an embarrassing experience prior.
“When Guardians of the Galaxy was pitched to me, I said, ‘I don’t think so’,” Pratt said, “I just didn’t picture myself getting the role. I didn’t want to go and embarrass myself like I did when I auditioned for GI Joe a couple of years previously. I went in there, and halfway through, I saw the director’s eyes just glaze over. It made sense. I was a little heavy and out of shape. I was not gonna play someone from GI Joe. I did not look like a GI Joe action figure come to life.”
It’s not clear if Pratt was referring to 2009’s GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, directed by Stephen Sommers, or 2013’s GI Joe: Retaliation, directed by Jon M Chu; however, both films would have certainly required him to perform labour-intensive stunts that required significant training before shooting, and even though the director may not have believed in the actor’s ability to transform himself, that was something that Gunn was thankfully confident about.
Pratt infamously lost 60 pounds after landing the role in Guardians of the Galaxy in order to be in the right shape for the role, a shocking transformation for anyone used to seeing him as Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation.
Although the poor auditioning experience may have negatively affected Pratt’s perception of himself, it’s good that in the long run, he didn’t sign on for GI Joe, as one of the chief issues with every live-action instalment in the Hasbro franchise thus far has been the films’ lack of personality.
The characters feel just like the action figures that Pratt referred to, and with Guardians of the Galaxy, Pratt was able to achieve the physique needed to play a superhero without forgetting his comedic roots.
