Chris Pratt Talks Way of the Warrior Kid, Real-Life Heroes & How He Feels About James Gunn’s DC Studios Exit

Chris Pratt has had a very busy year – even without having his name attached to a major Marvel movie like Avengers: Doomsday. He started off the year with the sci-fi mystery-thriller Mercy,and followed that with the animated sequel The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which became another billion-dollar box office win. This fall, Pratt has made a return in Season 2 of Prime Video’s action-thriller series, The Terminal List, and now he’s about to star in Apple TV’s new drama film, Way of the Warrior Kid, adapted from the novel by author, podcaster, and real-life Navel SEALs veteran, Jocko Willinik.

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In the film, Pratt plays Jake, a Navy SEAL who comes to rest and recover at his sister Sarah’s (Linda Cardellini) house after suffering a serious injury on a mission gone wrong. “Uncle” Jake arrives just when his nephew Marc (Jude Hill) is experiencing serious adolescent woes, including being targeted by some local bullies. Jake decides to take Marc under his wing for some SEALs-style training – not just in body, but in mind and spirit as well.

Directed by McG (Charlie’s Angels, Terminator Salvation), Way of the Warrior Kidis a rare multi-generational drama that offers lightness and laughs as counterbalance to a whole lot of heartfelt drama. During the press junket for the film, I had to ask Chris Pratt why, after so many roles like a world-saving superhero and some other elite soldiers, he felt Way of the Warrior Kid was a compelling story of heroism and bravery worth telling at this point in his life and career.

“Well, yes, I’ve had the opportunity to play multiple heroes, and they really are, for the most part, otherworldly, you know?” Pratt explained. “I could be rescuing someone from the top of the Eiffel Tower or firing missiles out of my butt, and you know, it’s like, ‘Oh that’s really cool heroics.’ But what I liked about this character is it’s really grounded in reality, and his call to service is something that from the outside might seem benign, but it’s just a guy home rehabilitating his injury, who finds real purpose and real heroism in something that seems small, but is actually infinitely large in the life of this young boy: Which is he needs a mentor, he needs a leader, and he needs someone to teach him what he believes in. And so I like that about this type of hero.”

“Uncle Jake” is presented as the most elite kind of Navy SEAL, but scars from his external battles, plus psychological scars and new physical limitations create a very different kind of mission for the sidelined soldier: “He’s a capable guy, he’s a war fighter, and we see a little bit of that in this movie,” Pratt explains. “But the real war he’s fighting is internal, trying to process his own trauma and also mission driven in, in the life of this young man, and that’s a really big battle that may not feel huge, but it actually is.”

Chris Pratt Addresses James Gunn’s DC Studios Exit & The Potential Role DCU Role He Considered

One role that really made Chris Pratt into a worldwide name was playing Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Pratt was there when Disney fired Gunn after the release of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2,and stood by his friend and colleague until Marvel reversed course and brought Gunn back for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3. Now DC Studios has fired Gunn and his co-head, Peter Safran, and replaced them with former Marve exec Jeremy Latcham. I had to ask Chris Pratt how he felt about the situation, and whehter Gunn leaving interrupted any potential projets they had in the works.

‘Yeah, I mean, wow, you’re right, that was big news,” Pratt said. “I was actually able to talk to him yesterday, and I will say, as great as he was in that role, ultimately he’s a writer and he’s a director, and he’s a movie maker, and so I think some of that the executive functions (he may have even posted a little bit about it), there were certain aspects of that job that I feel like he probably didn’t like as much as just going and making his own movies. He’s an auteur, writer, director, and so I’m excited to see where he goes next, and, eager obviously to collaborate with him.”

Gunn had apparently also mulled over potential ways to get Pratt into the DCU franchsie – and had some ideas on the subject. “Every time I talk to him, I’m always kind of hoping that there’s something that he and I could do together. When he was at DC, I was always, of course, looking through DC material to see if there’s anything that would be right for me,” Pratt explained. “And we had a few conversations about that – but there was nothing concrete that I’m disheartened that we won’t be able to do. Because ultimately whatever stories I end up telling with James – and I hope that there are some– it’s gonna be about my relationship with James and the characters we bring, and we can find, a material anywhere to do that, I think.”

Way of the Warrior Kidwill be released to stream on Apple TV starting on November 25th.

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