In the fall of 2013, inside thehouse of Chris
Pratt —whowas then considered a C-minus,
possibly
aC-pluscelebrity—thatwasexactlywhat
washappening. Pratt, thenknownmostlyas the
lovableschlubAndyDwyerontheTVshow
Parks
andRecreation
,wasbeingconsideredforthe lead
role in the long-awaitednext installment of the
groundbreaking Jurassic Park series,
Jurassic
World
.While filming amovie inLondon, Pratt
hadSkypedwith
JurassicWorld
director/writer
ColinTrevorrowabout thepossibilityofPrattas
the lead.
Sowhen itfinally came time forPratt to read
thescript,TrevorrowsenthisassistanttoPratt’s
house— script in hand— so she could take it
back as soon asPratt finished.Whichmade it a
bit awkward, until Pratt got lost inwhathe says
wasTrevorrow’sbrillianttake.“Iwas like, ‘This is
soawesome!,’ ”Pratt says today. “At thatpoint, I
knewhewantedme, thenheknewIwantedtodo
it; itwasjustamatterofgettingUniversalonboard
withsomeonewhowasn’t testedasanameyet.”
The studioknewhewas ready to carryafilm
as anticipated as
JurassicWorld
. That was 20
monthsago,andthestudio’sbetonPratthaspaid
off.Big-time.
InFebruary2014,hegavevoicetothe leadrole
inthehugehit
TheLegoMovie
.Thatsummer,he
starred in2014’sbox-officechampion
Guardians
of the Galaxy
as the charming, swashbuckling
roguePeterQuill(aka,“Star-Lord”).Sincefilming
JurassicWorld
—which, let’sbehonest, isgoingto
behuge—PratthasbeenrumoredasSpielberg’s
choice to reprise the roleof Indiana Jones in a
RaidersoftheLostArk
reboot,hassignedontoco-
starwithDenzelWashington ina remakeof
The
MagnificentSeven
,andwillreprisehis
Guardians
role fora2017sequel.
H
ere’showyou
knowthat
amoviestar isn’t
yet“A-list”:Whenhe
firstreadsthescript
forabigsurefire
summerblockbuster
thathemightwantto
star in,hehastodoso
whilebeingwatched.
48
JUNE2015
AMERICANWAY
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