Chris Pratt Reflects On Failed Star Trek Captain Kirk & Avatar Auditions

screenrant.com:

Chris Pratt reflects on his failed auditions for Captain Kirk in Star Trekand for a lead role in Avatar. The Captain Kirk role in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trekended up going to Chris Pine while Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully in the Avatar franchise. Even without landing those two roles, though, Pratt has gone on to experience major stardom after botching the two auditions. 

Pratt is now a blockbuster powerhouse, acting as the leading man in the Guardians of the Galaxy films and the Jurassic World trilogy. He has also voiced the lead role of Emmet in The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. Before these prominent features, Pratt made a name for himself playing Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation. In Parks and Rec, Pratt had a lot different look than the chiseled action star that he is now, making his transition into playing Star-Lord with a remarkable physical transformation in the eyes of those who had seen his work in Parks and Rec. 

Related: How Much Jurassic World Dominion Cost To Make (& What Box Office It Needs)

But before he made a name for himself with Parks and Rec, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Jurassic World, Pratt underwent a series of “demoralizing” failed auditions, including for Star Trek and Avatar. In an interview with the Smartless podcast, Pratt mentions that these auditions preceded Parks and Rec, a time period wherein Pratt was not being hired for many roles. He specifically recalls one audition, that he thinks may have been for Avatar, where he was feeling “a little bit overweight” and down on himself. The character description required the leading man to have “the it factor,” which per Pratt’s description, he did not believe that he possessed. Pratt fully recounts the experience below: 

“I