Chris Pratt

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0:43Bundling. Just another way to save with the personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. I sent a picture of myself with a Batman mask on. That's a little aggressive. To James. Anything else? Or were you just wearing the mask? It was just... It was actually... I did it in Photoshop. And he just said, ha ha. Did you really? So, it's safe to say it. I'm not going to be Batman. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins.

1:26Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today on the show, it's our favorite Chris. Well, for the sake of today's podcast, at least. Chris Pratt is on the show talking all things Mercy, Guardians of the Galaxy, and so much more. Thanks, guys, as always, for tuning in to the podcast, whether you're enjoying this on Spotify or listening. I appreciate you guys. This is a great chat with a gem of a person. Chris Pratt is the real deal, on and off camera. no one has been kinder to me to this podcast to all my silly shenanigans over the years than Chris Pratt our time has coincided with my time at MTV covering the ginormous franchises he's been a part of and I'm just thrilled that he's a part of my life I'm a part of his and he was kind enough to come on the podcast for the first time in a sense he's been on I think in a shorter form but this was the first deep dive long form conversation we've had on the podcast even though we've recorded thousands, not thousands, dozens, probably a couple dozen chats in different forms over the years.

2:29If you want to really enjoy what Chris does best, in many respects, at least for my money, which is comedy, check out some of the sketches we've done over the years. I'm not tooting my own horn, I'm just saying Chris is so good at this that it's worth checking out. Go down the YouTube rabbit hole, check out Josh Horowitz, Chris Pratt. you'll find Smellbox, which was our ill-fated pilot episode of a game show that never was, kind of stymied by COVID. We did a sketch for Super Mario Brothers in which he played a plumber, amazing. A bit he did with Jennifer Lawrence in which we took down Santa Claus, and much more.

3:08He's always game, he's always down, and I just couldn't love the guy more. Anyway, his new film is Mercy. It is a high-concept sci-fi thriller action movie that is directed by the same director that actually directed Chris way back when in Wanted, so it's very much a full-circle moment for Chris. and it stars Mr. Pratt as a homicide detective who is accused of murdering his wife and in the near future, he is put on trial real time. It's about 90 minutes, 90, 100 minutes by an AI judge, very much of the moment, played by none other than Rebecca Ferguson. Need I say more? Check it out. It's in theaters this Friday.

3:49Big fun entertainment for your eyes and ears. As always, a reminder, if you like what I do, check out patreon.com slash happy sad confused early access discount codes um discounts to our live events merch all sorts of fun stuff patreon.com slash happy sad confused okay without any further ado um here's my catch up with i feel like we've been doing like all the parks and rec cast lately we had aziz on recently uh adam scott we gotta get polar on the podcast next right offerman's done it We're just going through the list. Aubrey's done it. Yeah, we're going to get there. We're going to go through the entire list of Parks and Rec.

4:30But for now, enjoy my conversation with the one and only Mr. Chris Pratt. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. You write for this? I was born ready. Christopher Michael Pratt, or as I like to call you, Christo. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Let's go. Throwback. For those that don't know, this man almost was Christo way back when. That's right. There was a hot minute. You almost rebranded before the career got going. Just branded, not even rebranded, just branded. I was going to be Christo. I had a name tag that said Christopher. This is Bubba Gump. At Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, but the PHER part got rubbed off. So it said Christo, and everyone called me Christo for a long time while I was working at Bubba Gump.

5:16High turnover rate, the new employees thought my name was Christo. And as I navigated being discovered and brought to Los Angeles to follow my dreams, part of me thought, in earnest, maybe I'd go as just Christo. That's the part of you I like that thought that. Never too late. We're trying to bring it back. Yeah. It's good to see you, buddy. Thank you for taking the time as always. You know what's weird? In all our times, you've never done really the full podcast. Yeah, no. Like we've done... We've done everything. We did so many bits. You've murdered Santa Claus with Jennifer Lawrence. That's right.

5:52You've done plumbing for me. Yep. You were in the Smellbox. The Smellbox. I was in the, yep, I was in the Smellbox. Smellbox, by the way, I think caused COVID. It was the last shoot, I think, right before COVID. Is that true? So I think we did it. Sorry. Oh. Dang. We erased that. We can't, there's no proof. No, there's no proof. Well, that's the last thing before COVID was Smellbox? At least it was my last shoot. There's a high likelihood that you did that. No. Not we. You. It was, you know what, I really think there's an alternate timeline where you're Christo and Smellbox is the most popular show on the planet.

6:23That's true. I think it's possible. I think it's possible. And I'm going to say Smellbox was so good that if it did cause COVID, worth it. No. Yeah. Yeah. Smellbox. I'm your new publicist. I'm jumping in wrong. He didn't mean that. Congratulations on the new film. We're spreading the good word of mercy. Thank you. High concept. This is kind of like, this reminds me, back in the day, this is like, this is Bruce Willis. This is Sly Stallone. This is Arnold. That's right. Now it's Christo. Now it's Christo. You're right. It does have that throwback when blockbusters were based on something that wasn't IP.

6:57Right. And they were 90 minutes long. It kept you on the edge of your seat. It wrapped up in the end. In a way, it's a throwback. I think a lot of movies now are moving into the four-hour-long territory. More is more. More is more. Six different endings. One good ending is enough sometimes. Or no ending. Right. Just like, see you soon for the next four-hour installment of this movie. Right. So, yeah. So, this is a – we wrap it up. It's good. I think it's super original. It's definitely – it's a thriller. It's a genre I hadn't done before. And it is back in – yeah, it does remind me of, like, the sort of suspense of, like, a movie like Speed or something like that.

7:36Totally. How's the press tour treating it? You're at the end right now. By the nature of this, like, you had Rebecca Ferguson, the great Rebecca Ferguson, for a little bit, but this is on your shoulders. You didn't have Jack Black by your side. Yeah, I know. No, but that's not true. Kaylee Reese has been a part of it, Chris Sullivan, and Kylie, who plays my daughter, and also Chuck Roven, who's our producer, and our director, Timur. We've all been kind of bouncing around. Rebecca was with us out in London for a bit, but she's working on Silo, so she couldn't get out. She's amazing. I'm obsessed with her.

8:10I am too. She's fantastic. Have you done stuff with her? done stuff through the Mission films. Oh yeah, yeah. Just like as an actor, so let's set that aside. She's amazing, but just as a human being, like so cool. Such a pistol, right? So the coolest person on the planet. She really is. She's fantastic. I loved working with her. So are you at this point, like, are you generally an instinctual actor where like the script comes around and you kind of know immediately, or do you kind of labor over it? Like when this one comes around, is it a pretty easy yes? Or is it kind of like, I need to really stew on this?

8:36No, uh, This one was a pretty easy yes. I thought the script was great. Yeah. And I get distracted reading scripts, and to pick up a script and not be able to put it down is pretty rare, and that was the case with this. Also, it's shot in L.A., which so few things do anymore. So it was like, wow, this could be – so we could shoot this close to home. Yeah. It fit into my schedule, and, you know, I'm trying more and more to prioritize my wife and kids as much as I can and stuff. And so that was one of the reasons I wanted to do it. Also, it was a surprise, maybe for people who might have seen me, seen things that I've done in my career, like lighthearted, kind of goofy, funny things.

9:24This is not that. This is like a thriller. And so it's dark and emotional and challenging. And I worked with Timor years ago, so I wanted to work with him again. So yeah, all these things lined up, and I was like, that's definitely a movie we should make. In what ways was it a heavy lift that you anticipated or didn't anticipate? Because by the nature of the conceit of the film, you're seated for a lot of it. Yeah. Which is great in some ways, and in other ways robs you of a lot of physicality as an actor. Yeah, it was unlike anything I'd ever shot before and unlike movies that are shot. It's like phone booth in that way.

9:58It's just one isolated location the entire time. Yeah. And although I am confronted with a litany of visual images that you will also be confronted with should you see this in 3D. You know, I'm on trial. I'm trying to interface with the world around me that's kind of blowing up this near to distant, you know, dystopian Los Angeles. I'm communicating with my partner. There's all this action happening, but I'm not responsible for the action. I'm responsible for the emotional arc of this character who's on trial. And so, yeah, the limitations of that were challenging the fact that we shot really long takes.

10:31Right. So you shoot this essentially kind of almost like a play like like a 60 minute. That's very rare. It is rare Yeah, doesn't make you can't really do that unless you know You don't often there aren't a lot of movies that take just take place in one location So you got to set up one location you shoot a two-minute scene Then you go into another location the next day shoot a three-minute scene and you know building these puzzle pieces and you can watch a movie is very action-packed but Create you know filming action movies is not action-packed, right? You take an entire day to shoot something that's four seconds in the film.

11:02So it's kind of boring. So what was nice about this was it was really active. We told the entire story almost every day. It must give you a sense of real satisfaction because, like you said, the nature of a lot of the work you've done is you can spend an entire day or a week and you're shooting 20 seconds of a film. And here you're spending a day and you've done half, if not two-thirds of the film in a day and you've gone through that emotional arc. So you kind of must be spent as an actor in the best possible way. Yeah, it was really rewarding. It was super technical, and it was all on me. So it felt really challenging, and it was just awesome the way I kind of set myself up for success in this with being able to communicate with the actors via an earwig, and then I had my associate in another earwig on a private channel to me, kind of playing music and reading all of the subtext that I had written for myself.

11:56So it was like very much an internal audio experience for me. And so that was really helpful. We'll be right back with more Happy, Sad, Confused. So some of you may think what you see and hear on the podcast is the total me. The truth is I get super stressed like everybody else. Work challenges, the health of a loved one, it can all feel pretty overwhelming. That's why I'm so happy Rula is an ongoing sponsor for Happy, Sad, Confused. It's one thing to find a therapist you like, but then you learn the problem of actually making sure that they take your insurance. Then there are all those online therapy platforms, right?

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13:52That's Rula, R-U-L-A dot com slash happy. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget. Hey, Chicago, class it up with Crocs. You know back to school is coming in fast. So why wait to find your new fave footwear? Step into a local Crocs store and step into your new Try it, style it, make it yours. Because the right pair doesn't just show up, it shows off. First day fits, handled. Walk out ready for whatever's next. Visit your nearest Croc store today.

14:33It's also fascinating you mentioned Team War. So this is like a real full circle moment. For those who don't know, Wanted was a very important early film for you. You were kind of like classic asshole best friend in that. Timur directed that. That was kind of like his big Hollywood movie at the time. And what did that movie mean to you at the time? You had done Everwood, I guess. Yeah, I'd done Everwood. I had moved back from, I'd shot Everwood in Utah. It was in my early 20s. I'd moved back from Utah to California, and I was going to see what was next. And so, yeah, I got this job, and it was shot in.

15:11in Prague. And so I got to go there. That was exciting. It was with Angelina Jolie. So I was like totally starstruck, completely green. I remember there was, the camera operator had done Children of Men. Oh, wow. And you remember all the beautiful camera work in the wonder. So he was like this really touted steadicam operator. And there was a scene where my, it's like later in the movie where my character gets like punched and knocked out. And I like lay on the floor for most of the scene. now this was before i i was still so green i didn't quite understand what was ever being filmed i was just i just was knew i was there doing my bit and if i can't i didn't know what the camera was picking up or not picking up and so i get punched i'm in the top of the scene i fall down i'm never seen again in the scene but i didn't know that so i laid on the ground the whole time and the camera operator was walking backwards doing his sort of like physical gymnastics he he's due to these incredible shots, like the Children of Meg Moiner's.

16:08And he full on just stepped on my head. And you haven't been the same since, have you? No, yeah. And then he yelled at me. I was like, I couldn't believe it. He's like, what the fuck are you doing? I was like, with your big head. Right in front of Angelina Jolie. I was so embarrassed, bro. Miss Jolie, I usually move my head, but I didn't know. I was like, I don't know. I'm just doing what we fucking rehearsed 30 times. I'm good, I'm good. Angelina Jolie was like, are you okay, sweetheart? I'm okay, yeah, I'm okay. I think I'm okay. I'm kind of embarrassed. Was that the period of time that that was the kind of role that you were going up for a lot?

16:47You talked a little bit about kind of like early on in your career, like you were going up for kind of like douchebag number three. That's right. And that's kind of what that character was. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that just was the way I looked back then. And truly, like I came into Hollywood and I was in relatively good shape. Right. And I was like a young and, not to speak about myself, object where I was like a young handsome guy. I was like only ever auditioning to play the jerk. And so that was one of those roles. So you weren't like up for the McAvoy role or anything? That wasn't anything like remotely in your world yet?

17:21No, not even remotely. It was like the side characters, and the side characters that looked like me were always the jerk. Right. And like the crispy haired dude guy who drives the Escalade. He's like, get in the car, Rebecca, you bitch. actual line from six of your movies. It's your signature line. My signature line, yeah. So we talked a little bit about this, and we'll recycle a little bit just for the context of the arc of the career, because you've had these kind of pivot moments, and certainly wanted a pivot moment, Everwood's a pivot moment, but the big pivot moment right after that is Parks and Rec, which, arguably, right?

17:54I mean, that reinvents you as a comic actor. Yeah, that was a, yeah, that's right. Well, the thing that strikes me when I think about that is like when you look at the people you're working with there, like they're all comedy like ninjas. It's like it's Polar, it's Offerman, like Adam Scott even in Dunstead Brothers. He had some experience in that realm. Aziz. All of them. Obviously Aubrey. Aubrey, yeah. Did you have much comedic experience prior to that? I mean, yes. When I was on Everwood, I was kind of the comic relief. And I was playing sort of a version of myself that wasn't dissimilar from Andy.

18:31And it was the result of the same thing, which was television as a medium is something where characters can be tailored to fit your strengths. Because you're telling it episodic. When I did everyone, it was 22 episodes a year. I was written originally as the jerk. And then eventually they found certain aspects of that character that weren't as fun to watch as me being a guy with a kind heart who knew how to say funny things. And so that character became a kind-hearted, lovable doofus. And that sort of clown in me, that was sort of my comedic brand growing up. That was just how I made people laugh.

19:09And so I would rely on my strengths there. So I did some comedy in Everwood. It was primarily a drama, but I did some comedy there. Does Everwood still recur in your life at all? I mean, with all the successes you've had since, does every once in a while someone want to talk to you about Everwood? Yeah, periodically. it's usually people who want to let me know how long they've been my fan. Like if I see someone on the street and they're like, hey man, they're like, no, not Quill, Everwood. I'm like, dude, let's go. That's two and a half, almost three decades of, so that's oftentimes how, and I'm still, I actually have been in touch recently with Greg Smith.

19:44I saw him at church actually, and I was like, dude, Greg, oh my God. So catching up with him is really sweet. And we lost a couple of our actors, John Beasley and Treat Williams both passed away a couple years ago. And so, yeah, it comes up periodically. It's nice though, like, you know, again, one of the benefits of sticking around is like relationships and then returning to them and working with them or just having them in your life in different ways and like, and having that shared history. It's really like, I don't know, there's no substitute for that. Yeah, you're right. And to me it's...

20:15Reminds you who you were at a different time. One of the sweet and amazing blessings about this career that oftentimes don't get talked talked about when you're either promoting a movie or people are talking about you as like an actor. And that's kind of one of the private joys of this job is the relationship that you develop when you're making these movies. Because you're really thrown into a crucible of intimacy that might not, it's kind of manufactured. It's ten people, you better become really close. You're going to cry in front of each other. You might have scenes with each other where you're pouring out your heart or you're living through these shared experiences.

20:48And then they cut and they wrap the movie and you walk away. and you might never see those people again. Right. But then when you do see them, it's like you plug right back into where you left off, you know? Well, also like the one, especially the TV shows, Everwood, the Parks and Rec, where you're like years and years and it's like marriages, divorce, kids, the whole like real life. Yeah, that's right. Like you've gone through all of that with those people. That's right, yeah, that's right. So speaking of Parks and Rec, I've actually had a bunch of folks on the podcast reminiscing about Parks and Rec recently.

21:13Adam Scott told me he can't even watch old clips because it makes him too sad. Oh, really? Do you ever find yourself like on the YouTube, I mean, everybody not in Parks and Rec goes down the Parks and Rec bloopers, best clips, rabbit hole. Do you ever? Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes I'll watch some of the bloopers, which are really funny. People will send them to me and stuff, and I'll periodically go down. I haven't watched the show in a really long time, but I'm still waiting to show my son, Jack. I don't think he's watched any episodes, but he loves The Office, and he's 13, so he's getting to that age.

21:47So I think he's ready. So that'll be fun to revisit that with him. But I haven't sat down and just sat and watched an episode of Parks and Rec, I don't think, since we wrapped. Do you have a favorite improv that you contributed? I was looking online. Michael Schur cites one of yours as his favorite of all time. That one's pretty good. I know which one. Yeah, I know the one you're talking about. That's the connectivity. Yeah, interesting. Network connectivity. Yeah, that one. I'm proud of that one. That's a good one. there was a couple of there was a couple of beats I couldn't get through I was always good at not breaking you know I felt like that's a superpower you have?

22:28yeah I'm just too I'm probably too competitive you know what I mean I'm like if there's a chance to there's a chance to stay in this and continue to be funny I wouldn't I like wouldn't break you know what I mean but there was one time I couldn't and actually in hindsight I don't know why I thought it was so funny but I never actually got through it It's a joke, which was early on. Anne Perkins, like season one, Anne Perkins, or maybe season two, says like, you know, I got this guy. He's such a loser or whatever. And, you know, I'm so worried about him. He probably doesn't even know what color my eyes are, you know.

23:04And I'm in a hospital bed. And I'm pathetic and sad. And the line is, her eyes are green. Like 80 % sure her eyes are green. And to me, that line cracked me up so much that I never got it. I don't know why in hindsight it was so, I just thought it was so funny that a person was like gonna be sanctimonious and be like, she thinks I don't know what color her eyes are. 80%. 80%. Their eyes are green. God, that got me. I never was, it didn't make the air because I literally tried it 20 times and I laughed every single time. Next reunion special, you'll nail it. Nail it. I watched like 20 minutes of Zero Dark Thirty last night just because.

23:46Oh, really? What a, I mean, come on. Nice. I mean, in that period, you are like mixing it up pretty well. You have the Moneyball role. You have Zero Dark Thirty. Yep. Were both of those like in your comfort element? Like were you out of your element? Did you feel like, I mean, Bennett and Bigelow are pretty unique, singular, intense filmmakers. Yes. And I got Zero Dark Thirty because Catherine Bigelow had seen Moneyball. Yeah. and yeah that was such an awesome time in my life you know Steve Martin has this book Born Standing Up you know the book he talks about the moment when he was in those smoky clubs and and there was this like level of uncertainty around his life and then later on he's like selling out stadiums and the laughs are pouring in like waves and he just wished he could go back to that moment of uncertainty like that was definitely a moment of uncertainty yeah the hustle and like the yeah I didn't know who I was.

24:38I had an idea of who I was as an actor. But oftentimes our ideas of who we are as an actor is confronted by the way the industry sees us. And I thought I had something in me that I could do, but I just hadn't been able to prove it yet. And so those early movies, I was, and I also was trying to just struggle to work. I had very lean years where I didn't make any money at all. I remember getting Parks and Rec and kind of getting bigger and realizing, oh, maybe funny sidekick character is my gonna be the way to pay the bills. But I still had this dream in me that I wanted to do the Peter Quill roles.

25:15And so those movies... Those are little boosts. Those are little boosts where I was like proving that I could do something physical that wasn't laughable. That I could play a Navy SEAL Team 6 member that could kick a door down and hunt down Osama bin, kill him, and people would go like, what's that dude doing in there? Yeah, it doesn't get any more serious than Zero Dark Thirty. And if you can hold your own in that group. So that was definitely telling, I was affirming something I believed in myself, but also trying to convince this industry that, hey, you can take me seriously in some of this stuff.