James Gunn recently reflected on his reluctance to cast Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, in Guardians of the Galaxy . I was fully aware that, at the time, he was considered a risk. It was an additional tidbit of information about some actors who almost got the role that surprised me . Specifically, the mention of Glenn Howerton, best known as Dennis in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as someone who auditioned for the role.
Of course, in the same breath, Gunn talks about how there were hundreds of auditions. Just because Howerton auditioned does n’t mean he actually had a snowball ‘s chance in hell of helming a Marvel property.
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So I looked to see if Gunn or Howerton had mentioned the meeting before, or if Howerton really was just a name on a long audition sheet. Lo and behold, it seems Howerton was the opposite of a forgettable audition. He was, in Gunn ‘s own words, their second choice behind, obviously, Pratt. First, Howerton mentioned the audition on Kelly Clarkson ‘s Show three years ago, to an understandably confused audience who definitely didn’t expect to hear the name “Star-Lord” that day.
At this point, Howerton also doesn’t seem sure exactly how close he was. All he ‘d say was that he, like Clarkson, who seemingly has his finger on the pulse of Marvel in terms of casting, had heard it was between him and Chris Pratt. A Q&A on Gunn’s own Instagram story, however, confirmed that Howerton was, immediately, his second choice for the role .
That said, it ‘s hard to argue that Pratt wasn’t the right choice, and he ‘s certainly verified that trust throughout his career in any number of hits. Which really leaves me with just the question of why Gunn never returned to this particular well when launching the many follow-ups and other properties he ‘s in charge of—especially when it comes to a need for a cunning, yet still likable villain. A scan of IMDB doesn’t show the two ever crossing paths again, outside of shared nightly appearances.
The original collaboration may never have come to fruition, but I think we still deserve a taste. Gunn is now the head honcho at DC, and hey, if you ‘re reading this? Call Howerton. The person who was supposed to be the Flash blew it, so maybe Dennis can get involved. Or, even more fun in my eyes, find him a bad guy.
Either way, I want to see the golden god himself somewhere in DC ‘s pantheon.
