Chris Pratt says he’s open to play another superhero for James Gunn after ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is a culmination not just for the Marvel franchise’s wacky found family but for director James Gunn himself. The filmmaker left the friendly confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe last fall to become co-chair and co-CEO of DC Studios, the Warner Bros. Discovery comics brand. In addition to resetting the DC Films board with new projects, Gunn himself will tackle a reboot of the Superman franchise. That film is due out in 2025.
But despite the goodbye tour, it’s possible Gunn will work with some of his most prominent Marvel collaborators again in the future. Speaking to Fandango this week as tickets for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” went on sale, star Chris Pratt said he would be down to don more spandex in a Gunn picture.
“He’s one of my dearest friends, I talk to him all the time. I owe my career to him,” Pratt said of the director, who cast Pratt as Peter Quill when Pratt was a co-star on “Parks and Recreation.” The success of the initial “Guardians of the Galaxy” film turned Pratt into a superstar.
“He found me and took a chance on me and I trusted him and I learned a lot in the process,” Pratt said of Gunn. “He knows how to work with actors and knew how to work with me and works with everyone differently. He’s so prepared and knows exactly what he wants. He’s not afraid to tell me no which is a big deal. Sometimes I can be overpowering with my ideas and my thoughts.”
Asked specifically if this was the last time Pratt would play a superhero for Gunn, the actor said, “I don’t know. It’s certainly the last time I’ll be playing Peter Quill for James Gunn. He’s not going to do any more ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ films. It’s a trilogy. But listen, I love him and I love working with him, so I’m open to that.”
Gunn would be open to that too. Speaking to Empire earlier this year, the filmmaker compared the “Guardians” cast to his family and said while the third film was a finale for the franchise, it wasn’t a goodbye to his actors. “I also know I will work again with all those people individually again,” he said before saying with a laugh, “Probably at my other job.”
Fans have speculated Pratt could play the time-traveling character Booster Gold for Gunn. The actor told Rolling Stone he hadn’t discussed anything with Gunn in an official capacity but he “would have to consider it” if Gunn thought Pratt was right for the role.
As for Gunn’s shift to rival DC, the filmmaker said he doesn’t view it as a competition between the superhero studios. “I think it’s the opposite, he told Rolling Stone. “To be frank, I think the better Marvel movies do, it’s better for DC, and the better DC movies do, it’s better for Marvel. When people see bad movies, they don’t want to spend more money on seeing more movies. So you want good movies to happen, especially since we’re making two or three movies a year at DC. So every movie that Marvel has is sort of an advertising for comic-book films, and vice versa. And you don’t want to scare off people from going to the theater. And if we’re both making good movies, that’s the best of all situations, which keeps the ball bouncing back and forth. At that point, we can talk about rivalries, and it’d be fun.”
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