Before the announcement that Chris Pratt would star as Star-Lord Peter Quill in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, not many people would have pegged the Parks and Recreation actor as an intergalactic superhero. In fact, even Pratt himself was one of the doubters. However, he reveals that as he tested for the role he began to feel like there was no way he wouldn’t be cast in the lead role in what could potentially be the biggest blockbuster film of the summer.
At first, Pratt didn’t think he had a chance. He recalls, “I remember originally they were like, ‘Hey, what do you think about this Guardians of the Galaxy idea.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. I feel fat. I don’t want to go embarrass myself and have them say “no” to me.’ Then I would go online and see this list. They were like ‘The Dream List,’ and it would be 25 actors, all of whom have beaten me out for roles. I wasn’t even on the list. I was like, ‘No way. That’s a bad idea.’ I was circling around it for a long time, and they kept testing people and testing people, and no one was right for it.”
But Pratt’s initial jitters were soon reversed once he met with director James Gunn. He continues, “I went in and met the director, James, and something happened in that room. He gave me a sense of what he wanted. I, of course, wasn’t able to read a script until essentially after signing up to do the movie. I could tell from what he wanted that it was something I close to what I could give. It started just becoming real. Then it did. I had a screen test for it. Even during the screen test, I was like, ‘Oh, I got this. This is mine. This is mine now.’ I knew going in.”
via MTV
