Chris Pratt Conquers The World
“I saw the first one in the movie theatre opening weekend,” says Pratt. “It was the first major event movie that I remember ever seeing. I’d seen all the trailers leading up to it. I was a big fan of dinosaurs just being a kid, but also a big fan of Steven Spielberg’s work…he’s truly an icon and to be able to work with him is just such a treat. I’m a major fan and now I guess a peer, so that’s pretty exciting.”
It’s exciting, and it’s true. A year ago, no one could’ve uttered that sentence—least of all Pratt himself—but Chris Pratt is Steven Spielberg’s peer, and that’s the kind of unpredictable development that makes the movies awesome.
It’s also the reason Pratt is slowing down. Or at least, being more cautious. His career is hurtling forward at a surreal pace—the kind of pace he knows he has to watch, lest it hurtle away from him entirely. We’ve all heard that story before, too.
“I definitely know that I’ve hit pay dirt and this pay dirt probably has to finance this entire trip getting here and potentially the entire trip of getting home,” he says, “so I’m not off popping Cristal or doing it that way. I understand how things work and shit. If you choose to look at how much has happened in the last year, I know how fast things change. You’re only as good as whatever the last thing you put out is. Eventually, it’ll all hit some big bomb and everyone will shy away from you and then I’ll have to go back to the drawing board.
“But it’s a good moment now.”
It sure is. He’s working. He’s got projects lined up. Every tabloid says he’s going to be the next Indiana Jones, when they make that next inevitable Indiana Jones sequel without Harrison Ford. And he’s ready for what happens next—any of it—because he’s taking it all in slowly. He’s learning as he goes. He’s playing the long game. And he knows, now that he’s done a couple of these big time movies, what’s at stake.
Consider his summation of Jurassic World’s central theme: “Any time you play with the natural order of things for your own profit or your own entertainment, it comes back to literally bite you in the butt.” Ain’t that the truth.
