Exclusive Interview with Chris Pratt on Guardians Vol. 2!

Last week I had the pleasure attending the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 World Premiere! After the premiere, we had the opportunity to interview several cast members, including Chris Pratt.
This event was hosted by Disney (all expenses were paid in exchange for press coverage).

One of the highlights of my recent trip to L.A. to cover the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 event was meeting the cast. Everyone we interviewed was fun to talk to, easy going, and just a pleasure to be around. We had the opportunity to interview Chris Pratt about his role in Vol. 2 (and beyond), and here are a few highlights from that interview.

When Chris walked into the room, to his surprise we all gave him a little applause, but you could tell he was excited to talk about his movie.

Highlights – Chris Pratt on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

(Some questions and answers have been abbreviated so as not to release any spoilers, but answers are otherwise exactly as stated.)

Reprising His Role As Star-Lord

One of the fun things to find out was that Chris was the first person to hear the whole script for Vol. 2.

Chris Pratt: James kinda just told me that he had the whole script when we sat down and a couple years ago.

Maybe just a few weeks or maybe a month or so after the first movie came out, he invited me to his house, and just told me the whole movie. I was the first person to hear it. And, I’m like crying at the end…..And he’s like, “So, what do you think? Would you?” ‘Cause he was kind of asking if I was willing to go there, you know?

And, like, “Are you crazy? Yes, please, it’s amazing.

Channeling Emotions – Getting Into Character

Another interesting tidbit was learning about Chris’ process for channeling emotion. Chris was very animated when answering our questions so I can imagine that getting into character probably comes pretty easily for him.

Panel: You really brought that raw passion in the fight scene with him. Did you use any kind of real life personal experiences to channel that energy and emotion?

Pratt: That was, that’s something that for me as an actor is one of the hardest things for me to do, is channel anger, because I do it so rarely in my real life. Not saying that that’s healthy. Don’t really do it that often.

And so, I think often times like, you know, how we behave in the real world is, that type of behavior’s really easy to do as an actor, for me at least, real natural stuff.

But for me to like look someone in the eye and yell at ‘em, and tell them what they did to me, that they wronged me, that I’m pissed off, that type of thing is not something I do that often. So, it’s hard for me to get there.

And when you can’t like use just the natural empathy for your character that you’re playing, this character that you’re playing that you love and you have to have empathy for them, and then you feel their emotions. Because, you know, if that doesn’t work to get you there, you have to rely on some sort of tricks to work rather from the inside out, but from the outside in.

Meeting New Cast Members

Even mega movie stars get star struck!

Panel: Can you talk about working with Kurt Russell, and on and off screen, how did that come out?

Pratt: Obviously he’s like this iconic dude who I’ve known about for decades before he ever knew I existed. And so, there’s always that strange moment when you meet someone and you’re a big fan, so you feel like you have to tell him, because otherwise you try to build a friendship and it’s a little inauthentic, you know?

You just say, “Listen, I have to get this part out of the way, but I love you so much. Oh, you’re the best. You’re the best. You’ve always been the best.” And he goes, “Yeah, I know. Thanks.”

Who Is Star-Lord?

On adding his own personality to Star-Lord.

Panel: I love the funny parts of your character. Like, I really enjoy it. Are there any scenes that make it into the movie, or things that you do that you’re like, I have to say this, and they just roll with it?

Pratt: I remember the day we were (filming a scene), and on the day it wasn’t that funny. It was just like we’d done that scene a bunch of times, and they had to do it again because they needed to get something else. And so, I knew they already had whatever the line that was written. They already had it. And so, I knew when they already have it that’s my room to play, you know?

I say you’re gonna throw this take away anyways, I’m just gonna do whatever I want. And that’s what I said when he (James Gunn) was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” And, you know, it wasn’t that funny. And then he put it in the movie.

What’s My Snack?

On Peter Quill’s shirt in the movie and his favorite snack!

Panel: We want to know what Peter Quill’s favorite snack is, and in turn, what Chris Pratt’s favorite snack is.

Easter Egg Alert!!

Pratt: Peter Quill’s shirt in the movie, if you see that…that’s his favorite snack because that’s actually a label from, this a little Easter egg, but from the first movie, there was some candy on the table and I think I’m eating some of the candy.

I don’t know if they ever made it in the movie, but he (James) really loved the label, the art department had gone the lengths of creating this language and created a label for some candy. So, he put that label on the shirt. That’s like a snack that Peter Quill likes to eat. And I don’t know, I think there’s a real language and it says something. But, that’s probably his favorite snack.

This is the shirt in reference (above).