Dino-mite duo
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard try to outsmart dinosaurs for the second time.
CHRIS Pratt is a changed man. He used to be the kind of guy who thought it was hilarious to go naked in front of female colleagues.
The actor revealed this in an anecdote on the BBC chat programme, The Graham Norton Show, a few years ago.
Once, as a regular on the sitcom Parks And Recreation (2009 to 2015), he had to be nude in a scene with co-star Amy Poehler. Actors typically wear flesh-coloured coverings designed to give the illusion of nudity, but after a few takes, he decided to forgo the modesty patch.
Poehler was shocked, but laughed off the incident, he said, though he did get a reprimand from the network.
In Shanghai on a press tour for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Pratt, known for being sexy and funny, says he now realises that others might have seen his joke as neither sexy nor funny.
Especially now, when performers such as Casey Affleck, Aziz Ansari, T.J. Miller and James Franco have come under scrutiny for inappropriate behaviour.
Will he ever expose himself like that again?
“I’m glad you asked that question,” says the 38-year-old. He married actress Anna Faris in 2009 and they divorced last year. They have a son, Jack, born in 2012.
“It’s phenomenal how much change has happened just in the past couple of years and I’m definitely more thoughtful.
“I’m kind of astounded hearing stories of people’s behaviour on set. I don’t want to conflate my behaviour on the set of Parks And Recreation with instances of real abuse.
“But I certainly think more about that now than I did a couple of years ago and that is a good thing and probably long overdue.”
He goes on to say the #MeToo movement is a “unifying moment” and that everyone has a role to play in making the work environment feel safe.
Pratt is the leading man in the Jurassic World films, in which he plays animal trainer Owen and co-star Bryce Dallas Howard is park executive Claire.
During the joint interview, she speaks up for her co-star, calling him “someone looking out for every single person on set”.
“I’m getting emotional just talking about it,” she says, dabbing her eyes, adding that the crew was “lucky to have a man like this being in the public eye at this moment”.
She is married to actor Seth Gabel and the couple has two children.
In the sequel to the hugely successful Jurassic World (2015), Claire (Howard) and Owen (Pratt) have to rescue dinosaurs from an island threatened by an exploding volcano.
The movies are a reboot of the franchise, which began in 1993 with Jurassic Park, based on Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel of the same name.
Howard’s character spends much of Jurassic World in high heels, sprinting and leaping across jungle and concrete. Her choice of footwear prompted online sympathy for her aching feet.
“You’d think that I’d raise my hand to never wear heels again,” says the 37-year-old actress.
But, just as in the first film, she puts her character’s truth ahead of her own comfort in the sequel.
When the script showed that Claire would be wearing sneakers to an office meeting – perhaps in anticipation of her having to spend the rest of the movie running for her life – she objected.
“It was on page three or something and I circled it and wrote ‘heels’. Of course she would wear heels to an office meeting.
“If she can outrun a T-Rex in high-heeled shoes, she can wear heels in the office,” she says. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is showing at GSC cinemas nationwide.