It’s difficult to imagine a time before Chris Pratt was one of Hollywood’s biggest names, given he has spent almost a decade as Star-Lord – one of the best MCU characters. But before he joined the MCU as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy cast, Pratt had a few near-misses with the big time.
He is now a franchise specialist, appearing in multiple MCU movies as well as leading the new trilogy of Jurassic Park movies and lending his voice to the Lego movies and the successful new movie for Super Mario.
That wasn’t always the way, though. Before he joined some of the best movies in the blockbuster world, Chris Pratt was rejected for roles in the Thor movies, Avatar, and Star Trek.
Pratt told Jimmy Kimmel Live that he had a “rough run” with Marvel movies, and had auditioned for “all of” the best superhero movies before he eventually got the go-ahead to be Peter Quill.
“I auditioned for Thor, but not even to be Thor — but to be one of the sidekick guys — and I didn’t get a callback. Usually they give you a little bit of feedback, and I remember the casting director goes: ‘Wow. You really made a big choice there’. Which is code for like: ‘Hey, dial back the acting there, guy’. 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 added: “It was not only just Marvel things but there have been a lot of heroic characters in various films. Not DC characters, but like, you know, Star Trek or Avatar. Anything that was like: ‘This guy walks in and he’s got the it-factor’. Over and over again I was like: ‘Well, I definitely don’t have that it-factor they’re looking for because they don’t even want me to come back’.”
The star is back in his Marvel world for the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 release date in May. Check out our Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 review, as well as our round-up of the other Guardians of the Galaxy 3 reviews.
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