Chris Pratt had roles in a couple of buzzy teen dramas in the early 2000s, as well as a few movies here and there, but his career really got a boost when he was hired to play the goofy and lovable Andy Dwyer on the fan-favorite NBC series Parks and Recreation.
The cast and writing was top notch, and Pratt’s job on the show ran parallel with his film roles launching him to A-list movie star status.
The whole cast talks frequently about their love of the series and their former cast mates, but there was one recurring issue that got Pratt feeling uncomfortable on set.
During a recent conversation with co-star Jim O’Heir, who played Jerry Gergich on the show, the pair chatted about O’Heir’s new memoir “Welcome to Pawnee: Stories of Friendship, Waffles, and Parks and Recreation,” which just hit shelves last month.
O’Heir told Pratt, “I remember you, particularly more than some others, being worried about some of the Jerry bits being…mean. I remember you saying, ‘Jimmy, you okay with these?’… Do you remember that feeling at all?”
Pratt replied, “I do, I do. I was concerned in some of those moments because I care about you and I love you, and I knew that there were some jokes that were, like, mean.
“But meaner than they were funny. If it’s a joke, it’s funny. But if it’s mean for the sake of being mean, well, I’m not a huge fan of mean-spirited humor, and I just wanted to check in on you.”
Pratt wielded a lot of influence on set in the show’s later years, as he was becoming a household name in movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World.
He recalled “one time where I put my foot down on something… There was that time you use the printer and it says something like, ‘Jerry sucks’ on a piece of paper, and I just said, ‘I don’t think that’s funny. I don’t know about it.’ For the most part, I rolled with it, but there were a couple times where I think it went too far and I was concerned for you.”
The funny part about the running Jerry gag was that when we did find out things about the character’s outside life, we saw that he had a gorgeous wife, a bunch of great kids who loved him, and he was just incredibly beloved in his community.
O’Heir said this softened the blow of playing the character, saying in his book, “My theory was, ‘It’s funny and these are just jobs. I’m happy to be around.”
However, he did tell Pratt that the frequent check-ins meant a lot to him, saying: “Just so you know, that meant the world to me. You checked in on me, [Amy Poehler] checked in on me, and it’s not like I expected everyone to check in on me, but the fact that you did was so special.”
It’s good to know that when the cameras weren’t rolling, the cast was making sure they were looking out for each other. It shows in the way they talk to and about each other when looking back at the time they spent making Parks & Rec.
via: CB
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