54
JUNE2015
AMERICANWAY
inmovies as variedas
Wanted
,
Moneyball
,
The Five-Year En-
gagement
,
ZeroDarkThirty
and
Her
,aswellasmarryingactress
AnnaFarris(
TheHouseBunny
)
in2009, followed.
Suddenly:movie star. Pratt
says that even though he ac-
knowledgesthespeedatwhich
he’s gone from list C to list A,
hecan’t act likehe’sawedby it
all once on set. Evenwhenhe
foundhimselfstarringinamov-
ie franchisehe lovedasakid.
“You don’t want to be the
guywho comes in there like,
‘Ohmygosh,guys, lookaround.
Canyoubelievethis?CANYOU
BELIEVETHIS?!’ If you sawa
director say that toyou, or the
head of your department say
that toyou, you’dbe like, ‘This
dude’snot ready.’ Soyouneed
to take any bit of wonder and
excitement youhaveandbury
it.You’resupposedtohavebeen
there.Youhavetoactlikeyou’ve
been intheendzonebefore.Or
at leastpretendyouhave.”
That doesn’t mean he
couldn’t be wowed once in a
while. “Therewere a fewmo-
mentswhen I lookedaroundand itwas surreal.
…We’re inHawaiiatthisairfieldthathadbeenan
activeairfield inWWII. I felt likeIwasontheset
of
Casablanca
. Therewasno sound, and all you
canhear isthe65-millimetercamerarolling,and
they yell, ‘Speed! Action!’ And you’renot really
doinganything,but thewindwasgentlyblowing
throughmyhair, and Iwas like, ‘This is
big time
.
Thisisabig-timemovie-starmoment.’We’remak-
ing amovie.We’remaking a
blockbuster
movie.
Thatwasacoolmoment.”
Hedoesn’t plan to stopmakingblockbusters
anytimesoon.AlthoughhespeakstotheoldClint
Eastwood credo “doone for them, one for you”
(meaning, one studiofilm, onepassionproject),
Pratthasarefreshinglypracticalviewontheshort
lifespanofabig-budgetactionstar.Becauseeven
thoughhe’sfinishedhisfirstscript(“I’veactually
written about six, but this is thefirst one that’s
anygood”),heknowsheneedstotakeadvantage
ofhisnewfoundstarstatus.
“Ineedtoworkwhilethework ishere,”hesays.
“Ihavemyeyesontheprize.Thebigpicture ismy
wife andmy son and I living somewhere other
thanL.A., justbeingabletobeaBoyScout leader,
drinkbeeronSaturday, go tochurchonSunday,
having fun. I could coachhim in football. That’s
thegoal, and Ineed todoasmanybigmovies as
I canwhile there’s still time. Becauseyounever
knowwhat’snext.”
Tryingnow tosqueeze inamoviehe’swritten
orsomeotherpetprojectmeanslesstimeathome
betweenfilming big-budget films. And after he
thinksabout itabit,herealizes that it’snoteven
thatmuchofa trade-off.
“Youknow, thegood thing is that, so far,with
Guardians
and
JurassicWorld
, thosemoviesare
flat-outgreatfilms.They’resmartandwellwritten.
They’regreatcreativelyandcommercially.That’s
thenewplan.Findmoviesthatdoboth!Goodplan,
Chris.Goodplan!”Spoken likeanA-lister.
ChrisPratthasbeen rumored
tobeStevenSpielberg’schoice
to takeon the roleof Indiana
Jones ifanewfilm in theseries
ismade— leading topeople
callingPratt thenextHarrison
Ford.Wementioned toPratt
that, inpresspictures for
JurassicWorld
, he looksboth
likeFordandSteveMcQueen. Is
he thenextHarrisonFordor the
nextSteveMcQueen?–
E
.
C
.
Byaslimmargin,ChrisPratt is thenewHarrisonFord.
CHRISPRATT=
STEVEMcQUEENOR
HARRISONFORD?
CHRIS
PRATT
NO
FliesAirplanes
Temperamental
Reputation
Troubled
Childhood
FormerMarine
Spielberg’saFan
ActionStar
Sci-fiStar
On-screenHumor
Married to
anActress
Outdoorsman
VERDICT
NO
NO
NO
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
STEVE
McQUEEN
NO
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
YES
NO
HARRISON
FORD
YES
YES
NO
NO
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
ERICCELESTE
issenioreditor for
AmericanWay
. Atpress
time, hehadseen
Guardiansof theGalaxy
five times.
LEFT: UNIVERSALPICTURESANDAMBLINENTERTAINMENT (2). RIGHT, FROMTOP: UNITEDARTISTS/PHOTOFEST; PARAMOUNTPICTURES/PHOTOFEST
