Chris Pratt Explains How Getting 'Fatter' Helped His Career
To pay the bills early in his career, Chris Pratt realized that gaining a little weight paid off big time.
The 46-year-old action star walked down memory lane in a recent interview with The Independent, recalling how his time on Parks and Recreation wasn't meant to be a starring role.
In fact, Pratt said his role as Andy Dwyer on the NBC sitcom, which aired seven seasons from 2009 to 2015, was supposed to be a guest-starring role meant to be written off. But then something interesting started to happen. He physically morphed into a different person.
"Slowly I realized as I morphed into, slightly, a more clownish, fatter, funnier, sweatier [character], I was getting more laughs," he said.
Not Getting The Roles He Wanted
At that point, Pratt was auditioning for roles he truly wanted, action roles, but he just wasn't getting them. It's why, when he looks back, he says he never could have anticipated cementing himself as an action hero in Hollywood.
"No, I don't think so," he said, noting that he was largely getting offered "boyfriend" roles and other side characters that belied his eventual leading man status.
He added, "Early in my career, that's what I wanted, but I wasn't getting access to those types of roles. I was, really, only getting access to smaller roles, and typically a guy who would, potentially, look like an action hero," he said. "There's a certain physicality to what we do: I'm in good shape, I'm feeling fit. Then I would always get [the] boyfriend [role]."
When he gained weight and got "sweatier," he became funnier, he said, and he wondered if that was a niche to zero in on to continue paying the bills.
Related: Chris Pratt’s Upcoming Film ‘Mercy’ Pays Homage to an Action Classic
Finally, He Became an Action Hero
Then something else happened during his summer hiatus from Parks and Recreation.
He started auditioning for roles that eventually catapulted him into "action hero" status after landing roles in Zero Dark Thirty and Moneyball, where he looked significantly different from his role in Parks and Recreation.
"In Zero Dark Thirty ... no one said, 'What is that dude doing there?' It felt like it worked," he explained, "and in that moment I thought, 'Oh, maybe now that I've got a little bit of experience there's an avenue for me to chase this thing. I had more belief in myself after that."
He'd eventually land roles in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic Park franchises, and developed a new physique that was far from the overweight comic relief characters he had previously played. He's also the lead in Prime Video's thriller, The Terminal List. He realized that being fit and funny can also be accomplished in Hollywood, and he had one person to thank for that.
Pratt, starring in the new sci-fi thriller, Mercy, said, "That's certainly a testament to [director] James Gunn, really, he's the guy who crafted that whole thing and brought that irreverent tone and that colorful, bright, fun [character in Guardians of the Galaxy]."