One Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 Stunt Knocked Chris Pratt Unconscious
The "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy has reached its conclusion. There are unlikely to be more, with writer/director James Gunn leaving Marvel and joining Peter Safran to run the DC Universe. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) will be back, as we learned at the end of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," but the formation of the group we fell in love with has come and gone. The ragtag bunch of space misfits has certainly gotten into a lot of scrapes over the years, fighting villains like the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), The Collector (Benicio del Toro), the Sovereign, Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell), and Thanos (Josh Brolin) alongside the Avengers.
Along the way, the Guardians have gotten all banged up during their fights, and some of the actors have as well. For instance, Chris Pratt's longtime stunt double Tony McFarr split his head open during a stunt on "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." As it turns out, Pratt was injured, too. Back in 2016, the actor made an appearance on "Live" with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest (via Cinema Blend), where he talked about the "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" incident.
'They essentially just dropped us from mid-air'
The "Guardians" films are full of action scenes, and Pratt told Ripa and Seacrest that he was "knocked out" during a stunt while 15 feet in the air. He said:
"We were hung by wires, so we were kind of planking in the air, and then they were gonna drop us and we were gonna land on a mat. I saw it and thought, 'That's very fast.' I said, 'It's gonna be happening at half that speed, that's only half the speed.' So, when we did the stunt, they, I guess, accidentally did double the speed, so they essentially just dropped us from mid-air."
Oof. Planking is hard when your body is already down on the ground. In the air, that must have been rough before the stunt even started, and a double-speed drop sounds terrifying. He explained that while he was falling, he thought about his body's weak points, making him consider how he was going to land. If you've ever had a bad fall, you know that time sort of slows down, giving you a split second to maybe adjust your body. He tried, but he was still knocked out.
'As I came to, I realized there was a camera zooming past me'
Pratt described the thought process as he fell, and what happened when he came to:
"I thought, 'I have a bad elbow; I'd better just take it in my shoulder and avoid my head so I don't crush this stuntman with my gargantuan head.' I turned this way and bounced my face off the mat. I saw a flash of yellow, and it kind of tasted like smoke in my mouth. And then I came up and as I came to I realized there was a camera zooming past me and I realized that if I didn't do the scene [right then], I was going to have to do the stunt again."
Pratt said he kept himself in the moment until they yelled, "Cut."
The actor's elbows probably could use a little padding anyway. In a clip from the special features for "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" (via People), which was shot shortly after "Vol. 2," Pratt was attempting to roll off a truck away from the T. Rex during a stunt and injured an elbow.
While we all appreciate the effort when actors attempt their own stunts, there is a whole industry of professionals who do this for a living. Maybe it's best to let them do the stunts instead (but just don't let Tom Cruise hear us say that).
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is streaming on Disney+.