It’s amazing how far Chris Pratt has come in the last few years. Rewind to the beginning of the decade and he was a schlubby comedian on TV. Now he’s the head of Marvel’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy,” franchise — the director didn’t even want to meet with him for the part at first — the lead in the new “Jurassic World” series, and the man being touted to replace Harrison Ford in the “Indiana Jones” reboot.
What’s more is Steven Spielberg, obviously an executive producer on the new “Jurassic Park” franchise, is so excited with he’s seen in Pratt that he now wants do direct the mooted ‘Indy’ reboot.
Deadline says it’s early days, but Spielberg wants Pratt to play the adventuring archeologist and, provided there’s a good script, he would like to direct too. Indiana Jones reboot rumors were denied for months, even by writer/producer Frank Marshall, and many expected the series to continue for at least a fifth film with Harrison Ford, but we guess that’s not happening. As many suggested months ago, Disney didn’t buy Lucasfilm and the Indiana Jones franchise so it could just die with its iconic actor. These are lucrative brands that we’ll assume will go on and on in James Bond fashion for years to come.
It sounds like the always quickly moving Spielberg’s next gig will be an adaptation of the book “Thank You For Your Service.” That’s being written by “American Sniper” writer Jason Hall, which shouldn’t be a surprise because Spielberg almost directed ‘Sniper’ and is really the director that gave the project life before eventually handing it over to Clint Eastwood. Already in the can is his Untitled Cold War Project with Tom Hanks, and coming up after that is the children’s novel adaptation “The BFG,” already set for the summer of 2016.