Chris Pratt’s Surprising Pivot: From Mario to Mercy, the Actor’s Bold New Era
Between a daring sci-fi experiment, his son’s emotional reaction, and a bizarre real-estate twist, Chris Pratt is having one of his most unpredictable years yet.
Los Angeles, October 12 EST: Chris Pratt has entered his “serious actor” era or at least, he’s trying to. The 45-year-old star, best known for bouncing between billion-dollar franchises, is suddenly talking about confinement, fatherhood, and the emotional gravity of robots. His upcoming film Mercy, his son’s tearful reaction to The Electric State, and even a stray legal headline involving Katy Perry have all made Pratt one of the most unexpectedly interesting stories in Hollywood this month.
A Sci-Fi Trial and a Self-Imposed Sentence
For Mercy, Pratt quite literally locked himself down. He told People he requested to spend much of the shoot confined to a chair no movement, no escape because it helped him “feel the pressure” of the story. In the movie, he plays a disgraced detective on trial before an AI judge in a slick, dystopian future that looks like Blade Runner after a visit to a Scandinavian design fair.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, Mercy just dropped its first trailer, and reactions have been… let’s call them cautiously intrigued. Cracked roasted the movie’s tone as “high-concept, low-reward,” while fans at New York Comic Con where Pratt showed up with co-star Kali Reis seemed more forgiving, calling it a gutsy move for a guy who usually saves the galaxy with a wisecrack and a blaster.
If Mercy lands, it could reframe Pratt’s post-Marvel career. If not, well it’ll join the growing stack of big-swing sci-fi projects that forgot to land their emotional punch. Either way, you have to respect an actor who voluntarily sits still for two hours in a business built on explosions.
The Dad Cut of The Electric State
Pratt also opened up about something far more personal: his 12-year-old son Jack crying during The Electric State, the Russo brothers’ neon-soaked, post-apocalyptic odyssey that hit earlier this year. “It was really sweet,” Pratt told People, the kind of small, unscripted dad moment that makes him more relatable than any franchise paycheck ever could.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Pratt talk about his work in such emotional terms. For years, he’s toggled between action hero and animated mascot Guardians, Jurassic World, Mario but this softer, more reflective version feels new. You can almost sense him chasing something quieter than a box office record: credibility.
Mario Goes Galactic
Speaking of mascots, the Super Mario Galaxy Movie is officially in orbit. Entertainment Weekly confirmed Pratt is back as the mustachioed plumber, alongside Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach and Jack Black’s scene-stealing Bowser. The first teaser reportedly expands the Mushroom Kingdom into a cosmic playground, with levels that look ripped straight out of the Nintendo game.
It’s a safe bet that this one will print money. The first film grossed over $1.3 billion, making Pratt one of the few actors alive who can open both live-action and animated blockbusters. Still, he’s aware that the voice thing remains divisive. “I get it Mario is sacred,” he told EW. “But at the end of the day, it’s about giving audiences a story they can connect to.” Translation: he’s not losing sleep over internet memes.
The DCU Rumor That Refuses to Die
No, Pratt isn’t playing Batman. James Gunn had to squash that rumor himself, telling GamesRadar+ that while Pratt won’t don the cowl, he “could absolutely play another role” in the new DC Universe. The two have history Gunn directed him through three Guardians films so fans immediately started fantasy-casting him as everyone from Booster Gold to Hal Jordan.
And let’s be real: Pratt probably will pop up somewhere in the DCU. Gunn loves working with his people, and Pratt’s mix of goofball charm and underdog sincerity still plays well in that sandbox.
Real Estate, Real Drama
Then there’s the curveball. Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger are reportedly living in Katy Perry’s $15 million Montecito mansion the same one at the center of Perry’s legal fight with 85-year-old veteran Carl Westcott, who claims he was misled into selling it.
According to The Sun, Pratt could be called as a material witness because he and Schwarzenegger are the current tenants. He hasn’t said a word publicly, and probably won’t. But it’s a surreal detail: Star-Lord accidentally ends up in the middle of a pop star’s courtroom saga.
The Pivot Moment
Here’s what’s interesting: Chris Pratt feels like he’s in that tricky mid-career space where every choice matters. He’s still got franchise gravity, but he’s also testing the waters of something more introspective. Mercy might not reinvent the wheel, but it’s clearly a swing and Hollywood loves a reinvention arc.
Fans who grew up watching him dance in Parks and Recreation or crack jokes in Guardians are now seeing a guy trying to stretch, to do something riskier than a $200 million blockbuster. Whether audiences buy into that remains to be seen, but the effort alone marks a shift.
In 2025, Pratt isn’t just the quippy action guy anymore. He’s a dad who tears up over his kid’s reaction to a movie, a gamer icon turned introspective actor, and somehow a potential witness in a Montecito mansion trial.
For an actor once defined by motion, it’s fitting that his most interesting move yet might be sitting perfectly still.
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A bi-coastal pop culture critic and former indie screenwriter, Gia covers Hollywood, streaming wars, and subculture shifts with razor wit and Gen Z intuition. If it’s going viral, she already knew about it.
