Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt’s unexpected body of work

WHEN he was buff, Chris Pratt was auditioning for “the male version of the hot girl roles — the jerk boyfriend or bully”. How that has changed.

AFTER a decade in Hollywood, Chris Pratt was so sure he wasn’t leading man material that he actually turned down his first opportunity to audition for Guardians Of the Galaxy.

Two outings as brash space adventurer Peter “Star-Lord” Quill, not to mention a recurring role as a raptor-whisperer in Jurassic World, have obliged the 37-year-old actor to reassess the situation.

“Hey, it just taught me never to underestimate the shallowness of an audience, I guess,” he chuckles.

Pratt identifies Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s brutal dramatisation of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, as the film that allowed him to reinvent himself, a transformation so startling that Vanity Fair has described it as tantamount to George Costanza turning into Harrison Ford.

“People bought me as that dangerous guy, they believed I was a Navy SEAL,” says the actor.

“For me, the thing that changed, the thing that has given me confidence, and I hate to say it, is strictly the physical transformation, making my body a prop and completely objectifying myself.”

Chris Pratt with his wife Anna Faris and son Jack during a ceremony to award the Guardians of the Galaxy actor a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Picture: Chris Pizzello

Prior to Zero Dark Thirty, Pratt had carved out a respectable niche for himself as a comic offsider in films such as Vince Vaughn’s Delivery Man and TV series such as P arks and Recreation.

Although he had been a jock in high school, Pratt piled on the kilos when he set up house with fellow comedian Anna Farris (they met in 2007 on the set of Take Me Home Tonight and now have a four-year-old son Jack.)

Against the odds, the actor’s new-found chubbiness led to unexpected job opportunities.

When he was buff, says Pratt, he was auditioning for “the male version of the hot girl roles — the jerk boyfriend or bully”.

“Most of the time those roles are greatly underwritten, just like they have been for women for decades and decades, and I wasn’t right for them,” he says.

“When I got a little bit out of shape and flubby, I had to depend on my sense of humour, my sense of timing, my improv skills.”

Faris and Pratt at the Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 premier in Los Angeles. Picture: Frazer Harrison

While earning him industry respect, it was a career trajectory that cast Pratt as a character actor.

Even he bought the label.

“When you are coming up as an actor, you are constantly redefining how you see yourself based on how people see you,’’ says Pratt

“It’s really hard to maintain any objectivity — at least it has been for me. “

Zero Dark Thirty gave Pratt the confidence to fight for the role of Quill in Marvel’s sleeper hit, after the casting director set up a meeting between the actor and director James Gunn.

Despite the enthusiastic reviews, Pratt says he didn’t really know who the character was until after he had seen the finished product.

“We spent a good portion of the first movie figuring out who the character was — not only while shooting; James crafted the first movie in the edit bay.

“So it wasn’t until I saw it for the first time that I understood exactly who this character was. I had tried a lot of different things in a lot of different takes.”

Pratt and Joel Edgerton play Navy SEALs in Zero Dark Thirty. Picture: Icon Film Distribution

Now that he is familiar with Gunn’s overarching vision, Pratt returns to Guardians Of the Galaxy Vol 2 with a renewed confidence.

The experience he has gained in the interim — on Jurassic World, Passengers and T he Magnificent Seven — also helps.

“With 250 work days under my belt, I have honed my skills a little bit more. Every single day you are on set you learn things.”

While the original film was a surprise hit, expectations are high for the sequel.

“We asked James how he was going to top the first movie and he said: ‘I am not going to try to.’ That’s the key. He’s just doing something different,” says Pratt.

READ LEIGH PAATSCH’S GUARDIANS 2 REVIEW

THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE EXPLAINED

Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) with Star-Lord (Pratt) in a scene from the new film. Picture: Marvel Studios

SALDANA FELT ‘EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED’ IN VOL 2

“I feel as though the first movie was the opportunity for him to earn Marvel’s trust so that he could make the second movie, which is incredibly ambitious.

“It’s funnier, faster, with bigger set pieces. And because you are familiar with the characters, you are able to explore those relationships in a deeper and more meaningful way. It’s far more layered, deep and emotionally resonant.”

Success, however, comes with its own particular set of limitations

“The longer I am at it as an actor, the more people who know me, the harder it’s going to be for me to make these grand transformations,’’ says Pratt.

“The benefit I had going from (Parks and Recreation’s) Andy Dwyer to Star-Lord was that a relatively small number of people who knew who Andy Dwyer was, or even who I was.”

When audiences associate an actor with a screen persona, there’s less room to manoeuvre.

“People are longing for that thing that feels comfortable, that they recognise. So you need to keep about 80 per cent of what people expect of you in your roles. You can change it up a little bit with the other 20 per cent, add a little bit of a voice, or a moustache,” says Pratt.

Kurt Russell plays Star-Lord’s father in Vol. 2. Picture: Marvel Studios

Father issues play a key role in Guardians Of the Galaxy Vol 2 — for Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillen) as well as Quill.

Kurt Russell, who plays Ego, has described Pratt as his kind of guy.

“I know where that kinds goof comes from.”

Pratt says the feeling is mutual.

In the past, the actor has described his relationship with his own father, who was ill with multiple sclerosis for many years and who died in 2014, as “complicated.”

He doesn’t see any direct parallels between that relationship and the one he shares with Russell’s character in the film.

“But I don’t know if there’s anyone who doesn’t have at least some trickiness in their relationship with their folks.

“As an actor, that’s what you get to do, you get to take your life experiences and unpackage them and re-examine them and put them into your work.”

Pratt’s Star-Lord has all guns blazing in a scene from Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2. Picture: Disney-Marvel

SEE: Guardians Of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is now showing

Originally published as Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt’s unexpected body of work