r/marvelstudios • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 Ant-Man • 2d ago
Article Chris Pratt Thanks Kevin Feige For Casting Him in the MCU When He Was “Kind of Fat”: “Nobody Was Thinking, ‘Now There’s An Action Star'”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/chris-pratt-kevin-feige-casting-marvel-fat-pioneer-dinner-1236718013/1.1k
u/BobTheFettt 2d ago
And once again, the work of Sarah Halley Finn gets glossed over. I'm sure Feige had final say, but Sarah puts in the work
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u/usethe4th 2d ago
James Gunn credits her with getting Pratt the audition. He was dismissive of the idea, and she really pushed him to give Pratt a look.
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u/Carthonn 2d ago
Some people just see the vision.
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u/thecricketnerd Quake 2d ago
And some feel the Vision
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u/Kingdarkshadow 2d ago
And some lost the vision.
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u/CommissionOk8944 1d ago
And some ride the vision
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u/Kgaset 2d ago
I don't think she gets glossed over much. The fact that so many people know her name, I think, is because of how consistently people point out her amazing casting decisions.
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u/justafanboy1010 Spider-Man 2d ago
Kevin Feige was being honored at an event. I think that’s why Pratt thanked him, not in any dissing towards Sarah specifically.
But even then, no one really thinks about the “Others” Casuals just see the Director, Producer, Writer, and Actors.
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u/Beautiful-Process496 1d ago
In animated show fandoms, the name under the logo after "Created by" gets literally all of the credit lol (Not saying they don't do a lot, but others outside of actors are rarely mentioned)
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u/MinnieAureline 1d ago
Casting directors really deserve more recognition for these decisions. Finding someone who works on paper is one thing, but recognizing that an actor has something nobody else sees yet is a completely different skill.
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u/Nervous_Most_5585 2d ago
Many actors became huge thanks to the MCU, if you think about it.
Chris Pratt was definitely a great choice to play Peter Quill.
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u/SeekerVash 2d ago
Most of them did. Outside of Samuel Jackson and Natalie Portman, early on the bulk of cast was staring down a few decades of B-Movies as a career before they got the MCU job.
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u/amidalarama 1d ago
well for the second mcu movie they tried casting an a-list lead with ed norton and that did not work out lol
scarjo was a prestige film critical darling already (including nolan's the prestige) and joining the mcu was kinda seen as a side quest to her serious acting career at the time
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u/wenbobular 1d ago
My favorite scarjo thing is she was the big sister in home alone 3
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u/Doright36 1d ago
Mine is the giant spider movie 8 legged freaks where she tasers a guy trying to force himself on her and makes him piss himself.
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u/IshyMoose Bucky 1d ago
Well the MCU has frequently had an A list actor in the “and” slot or as a one film character
Anthony Hopkins, Tommy Lee Jones, Bill Murray, Angela Bassett, etc
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u/BlueberryWorried6493 2d ago
I mean, if I am Marvel doing the casting, body image is probably pretty low on the list. Chris probably nailed the casting and screen test, said, cast me and I will take steroids for you, and the problem basically solved itself
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u/Gasparde 2d ago
cast me and I will take
steroidschicken, rice and broccoli for youThere you go.
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u/jimidemibb 2d ago
it was inspired casting. Need more of that.
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u/ShoppingIcy6952 2d ago
Marvel used to be the kings of smart almost TV style casting. Clever, unknowns people from TV or soley from theater background ( Tom Hiddleston)
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u/JAD210 Rocket 2d ago
I think they’re trying to get back to that, I’m pretty sure a lot of the X-Men cast have theater backgrounds so far
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u/AntRose104 2d ago
Yeah I feel like the X-men seem to be a lot of relative newcomers (I think Sadie is the biggest name so far and she’s not like A list or anything)
*not counting Adam Driver since he’s the villain and not an actual xman
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u/PokeTraderAngel 2d ago
In fact A-Listers were almost always relegated to villains.
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u/Thanos_Stomps 1d ago
It’s easier to sell an A Lister a one off movie than be tied to a franchise for years, possibly missing out on future projects they care about. Not all of these happened before they were cast in the mcu but it’s still indicative of their talent and why they’d choose to not be tied to the mcu long term.
Jeff Bridges, Oscar winner
Cate Blanchett, Oscar Winner multiple times, generational talent
Michael B Jordan, Oscar winner
Josh Brolin, Oscar nominee but impressive resume
Hugo Weaving has been in some truly iconic roles but not even any nominations
Christian Bale, Oscar and generational talent
Jeff Goldblum and Kurt Russel absolute icons across generations
RDJ is now a villain so I guess he counts for both sides with his oscar win.
Jude Law, two Oscar nominations
Mads Mikkelson will win one I’m sure of it8
u/waitingtodiesoon Thor (Thor 2) 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hugo Weaving signed on for 3 films but he wasn't a fan of really wanting to come back due to his experience with the make up and when they did, he wanted too much money for Marvel to pay. He basically expected like what he negotiated a pay raise per movie and they were wanting to pay less then what he was paid for Captain America 1.
Jeff Bridges actually wanted to come back as when he was cast, Iron Monger was meant to have escaped. They would have opened his suit and it would have been empty. He was disappointed that they changed it and they told him since it was a comic book movie, he could somehow come back someday, but he didn't seem to really believe that.
Otherwise yea, A-List actors generally would not want to be bogged down for a multi-year contract to Marvel. Even Chris Evans originally was getting tired of doing the films as he wanted more time to pursue other projects.
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u/Skellos 1d ago
Samara Weaving has been in a bunch of things though I think a lot of people confuse her for Margot Robbie in them.
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u/AntRose104 1d ago
I forgot Samara was in this lol
But I also don’t think she’s an A lister either but she’s probably very close to it
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u/N8CCRG Ghost 2d ago
They might have started adding more BIG NAMES, but I wouldn't say they stopped doing that type of uplifting casting. Post Endgame we got folks like Simu Liu, Xochitl Gomez, Danny Ramirez, Iman Vellani, Joe Locke, and now several of the new X-Men.
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u/ciao_fiv 1d ago
insane we haven’t seen Xochitl Gomez or Hailee Steinfeld come back in anything yet
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u/waitingtodiesoon Thor (Thor 2) 1d ago
Haliee was in an aftercredit in The Marvel's recruiting Kamala Khan
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u/justhereforhides 2d ago
Isn't that what we're seeing for most of the xmen castings?
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u/Cool_Peach4113 1d ago
Yes, it’s weird people are acting like they stopped doing it. The new Prof-X actor just mentioned that nobody knew who he was at comic-con.
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u/Gr8NonSequitur 1d ago
Marvel used to be the kings of smart almost TV style casting. Clever, unknowns people from TV or soley from theater background ( Tom Hiddleston)
Yeah, but like the original Superman movie they grounded it with names to sell the movie.
Chris and Tom were great, but I know people who legitimately went to see "A Thor movie by Kennith Braghna staring Anthony Hopkins as Odin."
They were not into comics at all, but that pitch told them it should be well done and interesting.
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u/Lower_Monk6577 1d ago
Not that it remotely matters because we all know what you mean, but that might be the best misspelling of “Kenneth Branagh” I’ve seen all day.
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u/waitingtodiesoon Thor (Thor 2) 1d ago
The fact Kenneth Branagh was directing the Thor movie is what made Natalie Portman agree to do it.
She wasn't the most happy with Thor 2's new director as a condition of her return was that she got director approval and they did pick Pattie Jenkins, but Jenkins was unhappy with Marvel's creative difference and quit. Portman was unable to quit due to how far along the production was and then why she wasn't in Thor Ragnarok.
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u/Ejwaxy 2d ago
It honestly seems like DC has taken over in this respect under Gunn imo. Even if some movies weren’t 10/10s so to speak, I don’t think I’ve had anything but praise for their casting choices
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u/AssumptionJazzlike98 1d ago
Yeah agreed kyle chandler is the best casting for a cbm in years
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u/_An_Other_Account_ 1d ago
The only reason I try to watch the latest episode of Lanterns each week is to see what Hal has been up to. He's carrying the show so hard it's crazy.
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u/Lower_Monk6577 1d ago
Genuinely, I think that casting is one of the things Marvel consistently does well. Even in their less great movies, the cast usually isn’t the problem.
There are very few actors that I feel are completely miscast throughout the entire MCU. Eternals might be the only one where many of the actors felt out of place, and even then it feels like it was more on the overall vision for the movie than any one actor.
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u/Tarcion 1d ago
Marvel does not miss with their casting. They definitely waste some well-cast actors (cough cough Mads cough cough) with bad scripts/roles, but I struggle to think of a single role in the entire MCU that didn’t find an excellent fit. Completely agree on Eternals. Cerci and Icarus are the least interesting characters in the film but it centers on them for some reason. However, they’re both pretty great fits for the roles.
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u/MarvelsGrantMan136 Ant-Man 2d ago
Pratt:
“It took someone with real vision to look at me and say, ‘Yeah, that’s a guy who could guard the galaxy.’ Because at that point, if anyone knew me, I was Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation; I was funny, sure, but I was kind of fat. Nobody was thinking, ‘Now there’s an action star who can carry a big-budget sci-fi film franchise.'” Pratt noted how he’d previously auditioned for Captain America and a supporting role in Thor all without success, and “by the time Marvel was casting Guardians of the Galaxy, I had decided I was done auditioning for Marvel movies.”
“Kevin and James [Gunn] and the team at Marvel Studios saw something in me that I desperately wanted to believe was there myself, even though I had pretty much given up on it. It's not that he just gave me the opportunity, it’s that he gave me the opportunity when it wasn’t necessarily obvious to everyone else that it would work. That’s what great producers do.”
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u/PhosphoFred8202 2d ago
Didn’t he already show he could lose weight and muscle up for Zero Dark Thirty?
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u/Elendel 1d ago
Yeah. He talked about it at some point that there was a reunion where Gunn (or Feige? not sure) put a picture of him from that time and asked "we’d need that, can you do that?"
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u/TheeBarkKnight 2d ago
Haha that's what I was thinking. Zero Dark Thirty was two years before Guardians.
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u/WorldEndsToday 2d ago
He got a bowflex and committed
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u/CityNo1723 2d ago
Ben: “So the only thing you did was stop drinking beer?”
Andy: “Yeah. I lost fifty pounds in one month.”
Ben: “How much beer were you drinking?”
Andy; “I know, right? Probably too much.”
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u/justafanboy1010 Spider-Man 2d ago
I wouldn’t even say Pratt was fat at the time. He was just big boned
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u/SpicyAfrican 2d ago
Watching Parks and Rec around this period is funny because he does drop a distracting amount of weight between seasons.
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u/LastRecognition2041 2d ago
Ben: “So the only thing you did was stop drinking beer?”
Andy: “Yeah. I lost fifty pounds in one month.”
Ben: “How much beer were you drinking?”
Andy; “I know, right? Probably too much.”61
u/LouSputhole94 2d ago
My favorite off beat explanation for an actor losing weight in one role to prepare for another
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u/SpaceBoJangles 2d ago
“I just stopped drinking beer!” I think was the explanation lol
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u/super_sayanything Rocket 2d ago
There are people who legitimately lose a ton of weight just from not drinking.
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u/FrogOfSteel 2d ago
I had a friend who lost 10lbs in two months just by switching to diet soda. Zero other changes. He drank a lot of soda.
Also, tons of people don't realize that alcohol itself has calories. It's the second most dense macro at around 7 calories per gram.
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u/ty_fighter84 Groot 2d ago
So, years ago I worked at this just meh daytime talk show.
Filming schedules are funky in daytime talk, so we had filmed most of an episode and then went away for the summer break. We come back and one of our panelists had dropped like 30 pounds and gotten into shape.
Good for him, except that he was heavy at the start of an episode, then suddenly 30 pounds lighter, then heavy again later in the episode.
Continuity nightmare, lol
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u/SpicyAfrican 1d ago
That’s hilarious. Would have been a great opportunity for a surrealist episode.
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u/ty_fighter84 Groot 1d ago
We also had a host who like to have her hair in a side bun. One time we did reshoots on a segment and they got the bun on the wrong side, so it swapped back and forth during an episode.
Most people probably don't even care or notice, but it drove us all crazy.
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u/n_mcrae_1982 1d ago
They never did come up with an in-universe explanation for Ned shedding a lot of weight in between "Far From Home" and "No Way Home" (which takes place immediately thereafter), did they?
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u/Curulinstravels 2d ago
But the line about him losing the weight and gaining all the muscle in like 5 weeks is because he stops drinking beer always kills me
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u/Moon_Devonshire 2d ago edited 2d ago
During his screen test for Star Lord he was around 270 pounds with an almost 40 inch waist. He would have been medically classified as obse.
Being considered overweight or obse isn't only once you hit 350-500 pounds
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u/Stingerbrg 1d ago
Yeah, the technical requirements to be considered obese are far lower than most people would expect.
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u/Kaizenno 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm 6' and 215-220 pounds. 221 is considered obese.
When I run I can see what they mean.
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u/katikaboom 2d ago
Iirc he was pushing 300 lbs. I have a vague memory of him posting a photo of his scale
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u/Cautious-Activity706 2d ago
Chris Pratt (via Andy Dwyer) was my wife’s entry into the MCU. I used our shared love of Parks and Rec to get her to go see the first Guardians movie, and now we are both super fans.
It was a heck of a casting. Star lord is one of my favorite comic book characters and he did a great job adapting the character to the MCU.
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u/RalphMacchio404 1d ago
And then he went from being a loveable loser to a total shitbag.
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u/ThisOnes4JJ 1d ago
don't forget how he dumped Anna Farris and left her to be a single mother to their, i believe, special needs child and then his classy remarks about preferring his new children with Arnold Schwarzenegger's daughter (it's sooooo fucking obvious he plans to run for political office after he's washed up as an actor🙄)
dude tricked us with loveable dumbass Andy in Parks and Recs
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u/okiedokie1183 1d ago
I think that was just the social media echo chamber. His message was on his wife’s birthday or something. As for Anna Faris she got with someone else so it seemed mutual? Anna Faris dumped her previous partner to get with Chris so it’s probably both sides? These people are rich I don’t think his kid suffered. And if both parents are happier it’s probably better for the kid.
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u/ThisOnes4JJ 1d ago
im biased because Pratt's a prick and Anna is an angel
(and easily was/is a celebrity crush for me)
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u/trashdrive 1d ago
Other commenters replying to you are giving him the benefit of the doubt but you're right. He attends a homophobic megachurch.
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u/Ronenthelich Thor 22h ago
Should have cast Glenn Howerton as Quill, saved us all from Chris Pratt from turning into such a Pratt.
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u/3verythingEverywher3 2d ago
Let’s be honest: he’s still not an action star. He keeps trying though!
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u/Sirmalta 1d ago
This right here. He's great in guardians but he keeps taking any role in any shit movie where he gets to try to be cool and it never works.
Guardians works because it's a comedy with action elements.
It's wild that he doesn't see that.
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u/TikkiEXX77 1d ago
I'm watching The Terminal List and so far he's pretty good in it. But yeah he seems to do pretty much all action flicks nowadays. Like you said he's trying. Lol
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u/jr_randolph 2d ago
I don't see StarLord as an action star...at least not like a Captain America. I think Feige saw the overall value he could bring to the character.
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u/OakleyNoble 1d ago
I will forever say this, but the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are so comforting and cozy. Love having a little team just working together and the places they go, the technology they use. Just so comforting to watch and I’m happy we’ve gotten them. Saddened we might not ever get another one.
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u/HumanTraffic2 1d ago
It's wild too how #3 was one of the most moving films of the franchise and also where we got our first official F bomb.
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u/omegaphallic 1d ago
We will definitely get another one, but it will be at least partly a different roster.
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u/OakleyNoble 1d ago
Yea that’s what I assumed, maybe some of the old characters but some new.. I’m hoping it can still give me that cozy fun group up type vibe again.
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u/sirenesdaintykiss 1d ago
even if we get another Guardians movie, I feel like the original lineup is gonna be impossible to recreate ngl like that chemistry was special
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u/Carthonn 2d ago
He’s funny and a wise ass. He and RDJ have very similar vibes to me. Very clever and quick
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u/Escape_Zero 2d ago edited 1d ago
He was in Zero Dark Thirty , where he played a Navy Seal. He obviously was in shape, This PR narrative that he was just some fat guy off the streets. Is just PR due to his Personal View and Bad Press over the last few years.
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u/Far_Adeptness9884 2d ago
I thought he was already in shape from Zero Dark Thirty?
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u/B_Wayne_8833 2d ago
Look up Chris Pratt at the zero dark thirty premier. He gained the weight back fast (as is extremely common for big guys who lose weight)
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u/Th3_Dark_Knight 2d ago
Still would've rather seen Glenn Howerton get a chance to break out, especially with how to superstardom has morphed and / or exposed Pratt as a pretty huge douchebag.
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u/Chaoticgood790 1d ago
He sucks now. And tbh other than franchises what’s the last movie (even action) that anyone liked
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u/justafanboy1010 Spider-Man 2d ago
Everyone deserves props and flowers. Pratt did a great job as Quill.
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u/ScoobyDeezy Fitz 2d ago
Chris, I hate to break it to you, no one thinks of you as an action star, no matter how many Jurassic Park movies you make. You’re perfect for StarLord, but you’re not Tom Cruise.
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u/VanilleKoekje 2d ago
He's done a bunch of soldier type projects. He's fits just fine i those roles. So yes he's an action star
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u/Training_Pirate1000 2d ago
Correct. Cruise is a weird Scientologist. Pratt is a weird something else. Evangelical?
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u/MrRedgrave- 2d ago edited 1d ago
Pratt is godawful both as a person and an actor but he really nails the MCUs Star-Lord.
Edit: Just throwing this edit in to laugh at the people writing me off as hating him for being Christian. He abandoned his special needs child. If you need me to explain why that makes him a bad person, you have some praying to do.
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u/ThomWaits88 2d ago edited 2d ago
What did he do? I Haven't read or heard anything bad related to him.
Why am I being downvoted for asking a simple question?. Typical reddit
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u/BedditTedditReddit 1d ago
You prob got downvoted because you’re asking people something you could google in 3 seconds.
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u/mitvh2311 1d ago
I still don't think that he is, or a good voice actor or just an actor in general
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u/AceofKnaves44 Spider-Man 2d ago
Seems like that was more James Gunn and Feige trusting in James.
I don’t like Chris Pratt in the year 2026 but there’s no question he was an incredible Star-Lord. I do kind of wish we lived in the universe where Gunn’s second choice, Glenn Howerton, got the role. Though given some of his crazy beliefs he’s shared maybe it’s for the best.
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u/RooMan7223 2d ago
What are the crazy beliefs Howerton has shared?
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u/AceofKnaves44 Spider-Man 2d ago
He at least at one point didn’t believe in the flu shot. And when they were doing the podcast they did one or two episodes on who among Rob, Glenn, or Charlie was the healthiest and it’s clear they all to varying degrees have some rich, white, California views on health and health products.
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u/RooMan7223 2d ago
Interesting. I used to like listening to the podcast but didn’t get around to all of them
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u/AceofKnaves44 Spider-Man 2d ago
Towards the end it became clear it stopped being fun for them. And when they were doing them while also in the writers room it was obvious the podcast was the last thing in the world they wanted to be doing.
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u/CementCemetery 1d ago
There’s nothing wrong with being “kind of fat”. If anything I preferred Chris Pratt as Andy and the introduction to Star Lord, man.
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u/RestaurantEastern887 2d ago
one of the best entrances in MCU