Chris Pratt is set to dominate the box office next weekend with the former “Parks and Recreation” actor serving as the leading man of both the ongoing success story that is “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” and as Star-Lord in Marvel’s “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3”.
The actor has been candid about his rise to fame with past jobs ranging from working in restaurants to stripping, along with various failed attempts to score on-screen roles.
Appearing this week on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the actor spoke some more about the latter, going into detail about the kinds of roles he auditioned for in the past and revealing that Peter Quill/Star-Lord was far from the first time he read for a Marvel role.
In fact, he says he nearly swore off Marvel auditions before landing ‘Guardians’:
“I auditioned for them all. I had a rough run with Marvel. 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.'”
Marvel movies weren’t the only big ones of the past 15 years or so that Pratt auditioned for and missed out on – at least two other major franchises for him also fell by the wayside:
“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.'”
Previously it has been revealed that if Pratt hadn’t landed the role of Peter Quill, it would’ve gone to “A.P. Bio” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Glenn Howerton.
Pratt is currently filming Joe and Anthony Russo’s “The Electric State” and will be heard next year as the voice of Garfield. He is also expected to film a second season of Amazon’s “The Terminal List”.
“Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3” debuts on May 5, and you can watch that full interview with Pratt on “Kimmel” below.
