Before becoming one of Hollywood’s most beloved leading men, Chris Pratt lived in an apartment behind the TLC Chinese Theater. Well into the early morning, he would wander on the Walk of Fame and stare at the stars beneath his feet, wondering if his time in the spotlight would ever come.
Pratt returned to the Hollywood landmark on Sunday, not to lament over broken dreams, but to help introduce Garfield creator Jim Davis as he cemented his signature outside the TLC Chinese Theater at “The Garfield Movie” premiere.
“[He] absolutely rocked the part,” said Davis about Pratt’s performance as the lasagna-loving cat. “You laugh just listening to [his] kind of timing. He also has the ability to go over to the softer side and to sound angry and stuff like that. So, it’s not just the humor, but his ability to bring out all sides of the character.”
Starring Pratt, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Cecily Strong and Samuel L. Jackson, “The Garfield Movie” follows the iconic indoor cat as he is ripped from the comforts of home and forced to go on a high-stakes heist with his estranged father Vic (Jackson). As the stars walked the orange carpet on Sunday, they were eager to discuss how they brought their feline counterparts to life.
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According to Pratt, he was the first choice of director Mark Dindal to play the lead. When initially discussing the role, Dindal said he had been “imagining [Pratt’s] voice coming out of Garfield” for years.
“I was like, ‘Really?’ [But then] I thought there’s a version of myself, like around the Andy Dwyer stage of my life, that I felt was similar to Garfield,” Pratt said. “And so I thought, ‘Ok, I can do that.'”
After playing Gail Meyer in “The Fall Guy” Waddingham plays the villain once again in “The Garfield Movie.” She describes her character Jinx as “completely unapologetic,” adding it will be “so boring playing someone nice again.”
“[Jinx] absolutely doesn’t care at all,” said Waddingham. “It was great fun to have Mark Dindal say, ‘You know what, just [run] with it and we can always pull you back.’ And they never did.”
“The Garfield Movie” hits theaters May 24.
