Chris Pratt stars opposite Jennifer Lawrence in Passengers.
Chris Pratt stars opposite Jennifer Lawrence in Passengers.
On an unlikely trajectory to stardom, Chris Pratt, 37, has inadvertently found himself on Hollywood's A-list.
Now in the sci-fi thriller, Passengers, the former sitcom actor who starred as Andy Dwyer, the lovable chubby guy from the TV comedy Parks and Recreation is the onscreen romantic interest of Jennifer Lawrence.
"I never expected this," he says of his cinematic rise.
Until recently, Pratt was cast in the quintessential "best friend" role in such movies as The Five-Year Engagement and Delivery Man . He also appeared in Moneyball and Zero Dark Thirty . But in 2014, he hit the gym, underwent a major image overhaul, and landed starring roles in such blockbusters as Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World and, earlier this year, one of the pivotal roles in the macho-fuelled Western, The Magnificent Seven.
It sounds as though his career was built on a carefully-planned strategy.
"No, not all. God, no," Pratt says emphatically. "And it's not that my career has defied my expectations. I just didn't really have expectations outside of just not wanting to be a waiter. I really hated waiting tables, it just sucked and I'd been doing it since I was 20 years old."
He smiles: "So it's pretty awesome that I don't have to do it now." That would be quite an understatement. His latest paycheque, for Passengers, was north of US$12 million.
Chris Pratt never thought he'd be a leading man.
In the upcoming action-adventure, Pratt plays a mechanic opposite Lawrence's journalist. In search of a new life, they board a spaceship as strangers and head for a galaxy they will help colonise, along with 5000 like-minded volunteers and 255 crew members.
But instead of hibernating for the requisite 120 years until landing at their destination, they awaken far too early - 90 years too early. Tragically, in so doing they find themselves the only conscious people on a spaceship inhabited by sojourners who will remain in stasis long after the pair have passed away.
"I love sci-fi and in this movie we are telling a very human story, about people trapped in solitude with 90 years left. We ask questions that we don't in the real world," he says. "As far as being alone, I've never been forced to do it for an extended amount of time, though I sometimes crave solitude. That's probably why I find myself fishing and going out into the wilderness, especially in the life I lead now and the job that I have. There's so much stimulus, it's nice to cut myself off from that and just enjoy the Earth."
The Minnesota-born actor is married to Anna Faris, with whom he is raising their son, Jack, 4, in the Hollywood Hills. He clearly enjoys his role as husband and father, and is apparently secure in his masculinity.
"We just spent six weeks together, which is a long time for us. I have an app where I keep a journal and I almost never fill it out when I'm at home, but when I'm on the road I do it all the time. I opened it up a couple of days ago, took a breath and realised, 'Oh fuck. Here I go again, on the road.' It made me emotional. When I miss my family it's the one thing that makes me cry."
Directed by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), Passengers was budgeted at US$120 million and filmed at Pinewood Atlanta Studios, Georgia.
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star in Passengers.
"I loved the stunts, though the wire-work was really difficult. Not only just hanging and being suspended from wires, but trying to create the illusion of zero gravity was a tremendous challenge."
A devout Christian, Pratt views the story of Passengers in Biblical terms. "It's an Adam and Eve story; that's how I saw it. An observation on mankind and the fall from grace, the sin that we have in our life and how that affects us, as well as the guilt we feel for the first time and our quest for redemption."
Like the movie, fate played a big part in Pratt's own survival. He relocated to Hawaii after dropping out of community college in Washington State, and found himself homeless in Maui, sleeping in a van and tent on the beach. He waited tables at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
His fate would change the day actress and aspiring director Rae Dawn Chong had a hankering for seafood. "She gave me an audition and halfway through said to me, 'We're going to use you. We're filming in LA.' I said, 'I can't afford to go to LA,' and she said, 'We will fly you there, sweetie.'" He smiles. "At that moment, I felt the tectonic plates shifting beneath me. I knew in that moment that my life would change forever."
