So, how exactly did the Marvel Cinematic Universe end up with its first f-word in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? It’s a classic bit of Chris Pratt improv, he reveals to Esquire Middle East.
In the instantly viral scene from the new film, releasing May 4 across the Middle East, Star Lord Peter Quill (Pratt) is in an argument with Nebula (Karen Gillen), as she struggles to open an old car door, leading to Quill frustratedly telling her to “open the f***ing door!”
“It wasn’t written in the script that way,” Pratt tells Esquire Middle East.
Watch it here:
“He was so excited about that,” jokes Zoe Saldana, who stars opposite Pratt as Gamora. “He was like, ‘I’m so excited. I can’t wait. I can’t wait.’ And then f—!”
Pratt is a bit surprised at the reaction to his dropping of the F-bomb.
“It’s funny because it’s an F-word. I think there have been F-words in film before,” says Pratt.
So, how did they get an F-word into a Disney movie?
But he was also careful as to how he used it, because he knew exactly what kind could end up being used in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3.
“There’s certain versions of the F-word you can’t use. You can’t use “f*** as a verb. You can’t be like, ‘oh, you know, ‘it would be fun if we could go over and F***!’ They’d be like, you can’t say that, it’s a Disney movie,” he adds.
“But the innocuous way that he says it, the very frustrated way, and this sort of pseudo-sibling conflict between himself and Nebula over something as benign as the opening of a door to me is the best way to insert this ‘historic’ moment in the MCU,” Pratt adds.
Chris Pratt has always been a great improviser. Since long before he became one of Hollywood’s brightest leading men, with his latest starring effort as Mario in the Super Mario Bros Movie soaring towards $1 billion at the box office, he was cracking up his colleagues day after day on Parks & Recreation, including some off-colour moments that never made it to screen, such as the one below.
How the Pratt improv happened in Guardians 3
But how did this one come about? It came in the middle of a vintage James Gunn dialogue-heavy sequence that allowed Pratt the freedom to try things out.
“It’s very signature of James to have these long talks, going back to the ‘you have 12% of a plan’ scene in the first one. He loves these four to five pages of dialogue scenes at some point in each movie. In every one of these movies, you just have a group standing around saying a bunch of funny s***,” says Pratt.
Those are the places that Pratt knows he can add some of his own signature flavor.
“So know there are these little pieces of real estate in this movie, where we get to go on these comedic runs. It’s very exciting for someone like myself, where I go, ‘OK, I’m going to have four measures here. I can play a little comedic jazz solo every take and try to make it different, try to make it funny and interesting,” says Pratt.
“That scene comes on the heels of a dinner table scene, where we’re all sitting around talking to the human animals. From the table all the way into the car, there was a long running bit of comedy that goes on for a long time. I just threw a million things. You could probably make an hour and a half long movie of that table to that car, but it would be really boring, and in some parts very funny.”