Chris Pratt Wasn’t The First Choice For Star-Lord, And The Top Pick Would Have Been Awesome
When Chris Pratt was cast to play the lead role in Guardians of the Galaxy: the group’s head honcho, Star-Lord, aka Peter Quill it was a massive moment for the actor and for Marvel. Chris Pratt was amazing as Star-Lord and it’s tough to imagine it going to anyone else. But it appears that it was something of a close call. In fact, Cloud Atlas‘ Jim Sturgess was nearly cast as Star-Lord.
During an interview with MTV, Jim Sturgess described how far he got during the auditioning process for Guardians of the Galaxy. He even had a costume fitting for Star-Lord’s uniform, which the British actor says was quite tight.
Jim Sturgess said, “I got way further than I’d ever imagined I possibly could. As you get further and further down the line, you start caring about it more and more. The competitiveness in you starts kicking in. But I was amazed I’d gotten as far down the line as I did.
Jim Sturgess went on, “As you find out more about what the movie is about — it’s set in a total fantasy landscape, which was intriguing to me,’ he continued. ‘This guy has a talking raccoon and a giant human tree or something like that. It’s more in the world of kind of Star Wars, I guess.”
Chris Pratt has a quippy quality to him that Jim Sturgess might not have brought to the role. After all, a little comedy went a long way for a movie where one of the main characters is a talking, blaster-wielding space raccoon (among many other parts of the cast).
As with anything in Hollywood, there are a number of sliding-door moments, those What-if pieces that will always have us wondering. In retrospect, having Chris Pratt in the role sure does seem like the perfect choice. But could Jim Sturgess have brought something equally great, albeit different? It’s not too hard to imagine.
One thing is for certain though. In terms of Hollywood trajectories, Chris Pratt went into the stratosphere with this casting. Jim Sturgess? It’s been very good, but not at the Marvel and Jurassic Park level by a long shot.
