Chris Pratt nearly gave up on Marvel after a string of failed auditions.
"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," Pratt said during a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "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.'"
Pratt spent seven seasons on NBC's popular Amy Poehler-led sitcom Parks and Recreation, in which he played Andy Dwyer – boyfriend and eventual husband to Aubrey Plaza's April Ludgate. The actor wrapped up in filming in 2014, the same year he was cast as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy.
"I mean [I auditioned for] all of them. Anything that came out that needed a guy that even remotely looked like me, I auditioned for in some way or another. And I would either submit a tape and they would say 'No, we don’t need to see him,' or I would get there and see them, they’d go, 'No, that’s the last time we need to see you,'" Pratt continued. "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.'"
Pratt would go on to play Star-Lord in all three Guardians movies - four if you include the Christmas Special- and made cameos in other Marvel movies including Thor: Love and Thunder.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5. For more, check out our list of all the exciting upcoming films in 2023 and beyond.
