It isnowsafetosaythatChrisPratt
no longer has assistants readingover
hisshoulder;he isasA-listas itgets.
After thatwhirlwind2014, Pratt is
onlynowrealizinghow importantthat
successwas forhimand for thestudio
that took a shot on him for
Jurassic
World
.Before lastyear, Prattbelieved
thepressurewasonlyonhim todeliv-
er agoodperformance, not to “carry”
afilm to someblockbuster box-office
number. But now he realizes why it
was crucial that
Lego
and
Guardians
—neitherasurefirebet—didn’t tank.
“I’m seeing how the business side
reacts to thepotential ofmebeing in
amovienow,”Pratt says. “SoIgetnow
why that’s important. [Now] someone
can, iftheyhaveagreat ideaandagreat
scriptandagreatdirector,buttheycan’t
getfinancing for theirmovie, I think if
Iwantedtodo it, theycouldgetfinanc-
ing for theirmovie. That’snow real to
me.Andthereasonwhy isthatastudio
executivecansay—Idon’tknowthatI
wanttogettoodeepintoit—butevery-
oneiskindofcoveringtheirbutts,okay?
Everystudioheadisgoingtosay, ‘Ifthis
moviedoesn’tworkout,Idon’twantto
beon the line for it, so I’monlygoing
tocastpeoplewhohavea track record
of doingwell.’ So if it doesn’t dowell,
hecan say, ‘Wellwhatwouldyouhave
done?His lastmoviedidreallywell!’
“They don’t want to take chances
for that reason. If you cast an un-
knownand themoviedoesn’t dowell,
they’ll be like, ‘Yeah,well, of course it
didn’t,dummy,becauseyoucastanun-
known!Youshouldhavecastabankable
name.’Marvel tookabig riskwithme
on
Guardians
,becauseifthatmoviehad
tanked,Iwouldn’tbewhereI’matnow.”
50
JUNE2015
AMERICANWAY
“Youhavetoact
likeyou’vebeen in
theendzonebefore.
Orat leastpretend
youhave.”
ANDREWMACPHERSON/CPI SYNDICATION
