Once upon a time there was an actor named Chris Pratt who we all knew as the lovable and pudgy Andy Dwyer from NBC's beloved but underwatched Parks and Recreation. Pratt charmed us with his beguiling naivete on the show, his play off more famous actors like Amy Poehler and Rob Lowe, and his real-life marriage to Anna Faris.
Then everything changed when Pratt was cast as the hunky lead of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
First he went from looking like this:
To looking like this:
And then Guardians completely dominated the box office (and our hearts) last year. That's a huge accomplishment on its own, but Pratt also happened to be the voice-star of the also hugely popular LEGO Movie, which was, in a word, awesome. Next summer, he will be once again be hunking it up in a beloved action franchise, as the lead in the fourth Jurassic Park installment, Jurassic World. And as far as his future plans go, he's got a movie with Denzel Washington coming in April and Guardians and LEGO already have sequels on the books, in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
So what should the actor, who USA TODAY named movie star of the year for 2014, do next? How can he keep up his momentum without burning out?
Well one option, it seems, is to star in a reboot of the Indiana Jones franchise. Deadline reports that Disney is considering offering the part of Indy to Pratt in a potential reboot of the franchise (which they bought from Paramount in 2013). Now the reports say that talks are "very early," so this may never come to anything, but now that the idea is in our heads we have to ask: Is this the right move for Pratt?
On paper this sounds like a great idea. After all, Pratt's Guardians character is very much rooted in Han Solo, a character the original Indy, Harrison Ford, played to perfection. And remember that scene from the beginning of Guardians where he gets the orb out of that ancient looking chamber? Yeah that has Indiana Jones written all over it.
But at the same time, while Han Solo and Star Lord are more sarcastic, outlaw characters, Indy is a straight-and-narrow intellectual professor, who is totally sincere. Is that something Pratt could pull off?
And with the many expected sequels for Guardians, LEGO and Jurassic World, it's worth asking how many franchises can one actor carry? (No matter how ripped he is!) If we start seeing Pratt onscreen every single summer, are we going to get tired of him? And will all his time spent as gun-toting heros prevent him from pursuing other roles in dramas or comedies?
To be honest, we're still not totally sure if this is a good or bad idea. We can totally see Pratt with a fedora and a whip, but we also think his career would be just fine without them. What do you guys think?
