After countless shortlist stories and rumors concerning who would play Star-Lord in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the search for the lead role is finally over, and fittingly the actor is someone who never appeared on any of the aforementioned lists. Deadline reports that Chris Pratt has been tapped to play Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, a character who was born of a human mother and alien father, and is a master strategist and combat expert who wears an ability-enhancing suit and pilots a psychically-linked ship. As Guardians features a cast of strange and cosmic characters, Quill was an important role to fill because he will likely act as the audience’s introduction to the vast, unfamiliar Guardians world. Hit the jump for more.
There were plenty of actors rumored for the role that made a lot of sense (John Krasinski, Zachary Levi, etc.), and Deadline notes that Marvel made test deals with Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Lee Pace, and Eddie Redmayne, but Chris Pratt actually seems like a perfect fit. His comic timing is excellent as evidenced by his work on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, and he’s shown his talent on the dramatic side with Moneyball and 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty, for which he also proved that he can beef up for a role if need-be.
Looking back on the previous shortlists and taking Pratt into consideration, it’s clear that writer/director James Gunn is planning on injecting a good amount of humor into Guardians of the Galaxy. A rumor surfaced recently that Marvel was looking at possibly tapping Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler to do voice work in the film (one of the guardians is a talking raccoon), so I’m interested to see the tone that Gunn settles on for the finished film.
With the role of Star-Lord secure, Gunn and Marvel now look to filling out the rest of the cast, which includes the powerful Drax the Destroyer, a giant tree named Groot, the aforementioned Rocket Raccoon, and the female lead Gamora. The story is also rumored to involve the villain Thanos. Expect to hear more soon as production gears up to begin later this year. Guardians of the Galaxy will be released in 3D on August 1, 2014. [Reply]
Cosmo was a nice nod to those who read the CB. Howard the Duck = EPICNESS for fans of the Marvel Universe. Too bad Marvel is way too busy to reboot that Wet Fart of a movie into something awesome.
Originally Posted by NewChief:
This is a freaking awesome Chris Pratt video. Gets called out by DJ Whoo Kid about his love of Eminem, so he goes crazy doing an acapella "Forgot about Dre".
Yeah, formerly married to fellow St.Louisian Jenna 'Pam Beesley' Fischer and big brother of Sean 'Kirk' Gunn of Gilmore Girls who also plays Kraglin in GotG. [Reply]
Awesome movie. It was nice to not have any ideas of what characters should or shouldn't be since I had no familiarity with any of them. I really liked that they took a big step forward in bringing the entire universe together with what we had previously seen by showing Thanos and the collector.
My wife wasn't really that excited to see it because she didn't even really remember the previews. But she loved it as well. She was laughing out loud, really getting into the characters, and enjoyed the whole story as well. These movies do a great job of drawing in the general audience. [Reply]
Fairly big opening weekend for the Ninja Turtles (wtf people) but GotG only dropped 50-55%, which is holding pretty solid. Still clearing 40 million for its second weekend. [Reply]
Saw this yesterday, and loved it. It's kind of refreshing. Less of a dark tone, lots of humor... and the oldies soundtrack worked really well. Chris Pratt was great... he's a funny dude naturally, I think. Feels like a movie I could watch over and over.
I look forward to the sequel. (Can't wait to hear what's on Awesome Mix 2... and find out about Peter Quill's dad.) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Count Zarth:
It's no Star Wars, but it was probably as good as Avengers.
Groot was my favorite. Rocket was amusing, but not as funny as I was led to believe.
Actually looking forward more to the sequel I think.
as a self proclaimed comic geek, i felt the same way. was actually a little disappointed in rockets accent. was that supposed to be new jersey?
very satisfied overall. and i'm shocked i didn't know more about this version of the guardians.
and, this was the only end of credits teaser that i was kind of not satisfied with. but all in all, great popcorn flick. (and the soundtrack was balls!) [Reply]