Guardians Of The Galaxy Director James Gunn Says Chris Pratt's Marvel Screen Test Was A Disaster

With his performance as Peter Quill/Star-Lord in 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy," Chris Pratt changed Hollywood for the better (at least, according to Glen Powell). It's true that as the leader of the titular crew, Pratt was just about as charming as any star had ever been, playing a lovable goof with emotional depth and proving that the era of the brooding loner-as-leading man was over. But it seems when he first tried out for director James Gunn, things didn't go to plan. The now co-head of DC Studios spoke about casting Pratt during an episode of DC's official "Peacemaker" podcast and revealed that while the actor's audition went well enough to secure him the role, his first screen test almost ruined the whole thing.

According to the director, who most recently oversaw the charming crowd-pleaser "Superman," Pratt nailed his Peter Quill audition. "I loved him in the role. He was perfect in his audition," said the director. "And then he did the screen test." As Gunn explained, the point of the screen test was just so he could show the Marvel and Disney higher-ups his pick for the lead role and get their blessing. "That's my only job [...] because I know he's the right guy," he added. Unfortunately, that screen test was nothing like Pratt's audition, with Gunn adding:

"He was so... He was just, just hurting. [...] I went behind the scenes. We actually built a whole set and everything. I went behind the scenes with him, and I was like, 'This isn't good. You've got to get it right, man.' It's like, I don't know what to say in that case."

Obviously, Pratt did get it together. But it took some help from one of his future co-stars and an inspired move from Gunn.

Robert Downey Jr. was James Gunn's gold standard for casting Star-Lord in "Guardians of the Galaxy." Like every fan of the 2008 movie that changed Hollywood forever, Gunn evidently felt that Downey was Tony Stark. He therefore wanted to find an actor that, as Peter Quill, could essentially be themselves on-screen, and went through 20 different screen tests of both established actors and up-and-comers to find that person. Initially, it seemed as if Chris Pratt fit the bill, but when Gunn put him on-camera, he fell apart.

As the director told the "Peacemaker" podcast hosts, "Sometimes actors get in their heads. And one of the things I say to them sometimes is [...] 'Your feelings don't matter.' [...] 'How you feel in this moment has nothing to do with how it's being projected towards a camera that's picking you up. So how you feel has nothing to do with this.'"

In Pratt's case, however, it would take more than a frank pep talk to turn things around. The actor and Gunn spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 and recalled the tense moment when Pratt's screen test fell flat. According to the Star-Lord actor, Gunn stopped him half-way through the test and said, "I don't know what you're doing, but you're blowing it. This is the moment right now. You just need to stop doing whatever you're doing and just be real. Just be you." Unfortunately, the actor still couldn't pull himself together, prompting Gunn to make a last-minute decision that saved his star from being booted from the picture.

During their Hollywood Reporter interview, James Gunn and Chris Pratt recalled how even after the director had spoken to his actor, he still couldn't do what was needed of him. As the actor remembered it, all he heard was, "You're blowing it, you're blowing it." But Gunn wasn't about to let him burn out so early in the process. Instead, he brought out Dave Bautista, who played Drax the Destroyer in "Guardians of the Galaxy." As THR notes, Bautista hadn't actually been cast in the role of the violent, taciturn Guardian at that point, though he was being considered alongside several other hopefuls. After Gunn asked Bautista and Pratt to do some improv, however, the chemistry was undeniable. That secured Pratt the role of Star-Lord, though apparently the studio pushed back on Bautista in the beginning.

You can see the pair's screen test online, which clearly showcases their chemistry and betrays none of the issues Pratt faced on his solo attempt. It turned out that bringing in Bautista was a genius move on Gunn's part. Pratt hadn't yet made the transition to fully fledged movie star, and was coming off six seasons of "Parks and Recreation," on which he played lovable slacker Andy Dwyer and frequently shone in improvisational moments where he could bounce off his colleagues (some of the best bloopers from "Parks & Rec" feature Pratt cracking up the cast). It seems all he needed for his "Guardians" screen test, then, was a castmate to improvise with. Throughout the subsequent "Guardians" trilogy, Pratt kept that improvisational spirit, creating several memorably spontaneous moments, including pretending to drop the orb in the original "Guardians" and a particularly funny Nebula moment in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."