Chris Pratt remained confined to an executioner’s chair for extended periods during the filming of his new movie, Mercy, at his own request.
Pratt, 46, leads director Timur Bekmambetov’s futuristic sci-fi thriller as a captive detective forced to appear in front of an advanced AI judge to prove his innocence in his wife’s murder. Rebecca Ferguson and Kali Reis also star in the movie.
Speaking to the BBC in a new interview about his role, the Marvel star explained that because he had “never played a character like this before, in a genre like this,” he wanted to ensure his performance was convincing.
To facilitate a realistic portrayal of a captive prisoner, he specifically asked the director to lock him up in the executioner’s chair for up to 50 minutes at a time.
“I thought this would help lend itself to the performance, and feelings of claustrophobia and being trapped,” Pratt said. “I was sweating, so if my face itched, I couldn’t scratch it, and I couldn’t get up.”
Adding that he is “always eager to try new things, to be challenged in different ways, and maybe give audiences something they might not expect from me,” he said: “I couldn’t rely on the thing I like to bring to roles — where I’m a little bit goofy and guileless. This is serious.”
Mercy, which premieres in theaters Friday, marks a significant pivot in Pratt’s career, as he’s best known for his comedic roles in shows such as Parks and Recreation and movies including The Garfield Movie, The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, and The Super Mario Bros. series.
Last year, Glen Powell credited Pratt’s portrayal of witty hero Peter, aka Star-Lord, in The Guardians of the Galaxy with changing Hollywood’s expectations for leading men.
The Top Gun actor told GQ that the success of Pratt’s performance helped him as an actor, as he believed that Hollywood was previously only interested in casting leading men in “brooding or dark” roles, portrayed by the likes of Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson.
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“When Pratt kind of appeared on the scene where he was doing things that were a little more silly and buoyant, that’s where I feel most at home,” Powell said. “And that’s where I feel like I had a gear that is a necessary flavor in terms of Hollywood, and not a gear that a lot of guys can play.”
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