Chris Pratt, a man who probably likes Mondays and only eats lasagna on cheat days, has been cast as Garfield the cat in an upcoming animated film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pratt will play comics’ crankiest feline in Garfield, produced by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Sony Pictures.
Oscar-nominated writer David Reynolds (Finding Nemo) is penning the script, reuniting him with The Emperor’s New Groove director Mark Dindal. The movie will draw inspiration from the popular Garfield comics, created by Jim Davis in 1978. Garfield is known for being a problem pet to his human owner, Jon Arbuckle, and his fellow pet Odie the dog. Bill Murray famously voiced the titular cat in both 2004’s Garfield and 2006’s Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties; he later admitted he only agreed to do the films after mistakenly believing that Oscar-winning filmmaker Joel Coen had written the script, instead of the similarly named Joel Cohen.
Pratt confirmed his casting on Instagram, writing, “Well this Monday doesn’t suck…” alongside a photo of the mischievous feline. This is the actor’s second controversial animated role in as many months. It’s been announced that Pratt will play Mario in a planned Super Mario Bros. movie, news that inspired countless Twitter jokes (and may have angered some fans for real). His casting as Garfield has inspired similar scorn, particularly because both roles were announced in quick succession.
Some have speculated that Pratt’s recent string of animated roles could potentially be tied to his vaccination status. The actor has not publicly disclosed whether he’s vaccinated against COVID-19, though requirements for immunization are often at a studio’s discretion. In recent months, Pratt has also filmed two major live-action roles: Thor: Love and Thunder in Australia and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in Atlanta.
Pratt has maintained a committed relationship with IP-inspired movies since his Parks and Recreation days came to a close. Filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller unknowingly opened the floodgates in 2014 with The Lego Movie. Since then, he’s appeared in Lego Movie spinoffs, Guardians of the Galaxy/Marvel-related properties, and the Jurassic World films. It’s almost as if Pratt noted his sub-par ranking in the best Hollywood Chris debate and decided to break down our resolve, one nostalgic childhood role at a time.
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