Vanity Fair recently featured actor Chris Pratt in the pages of their magazine. The Guardians of the Galaxy star had moved from his home state of Washington to Hawaii and was earning a living at local Bubba Gump Shrimp chain when he said his life changed forever.
“I was sitting outside a grocery store—we’d convinced someone to go in and buy us beer. This is Maui. And a guy named Henry came up and recognized something in me that needed to be saved. He asked what I was doing that night, and I was honest. I said, ‘My friend’s inside buying me alcohol.’ ‘You going to go party?’ he asked. ‘Yeah.’ ‘Drink and do drugs? Meet girls, fornication?’ I was like, ‘I hope so.’ I was charmed by this guy, don’t know why. He was an Asian dude, maybe Hawaiian, in his 40s. It should’ve made me nervous but didn’t. I said, ‘Why are you asking?’ He said, ‘Jesus told me to talk to you . . .’ At that moment I was like, I think I have to go with this guy. He took me to church. Over the next few days I surprised my friends by declaring that I was going to change my life.”
And change his life he did. Not long afterward he was “discovered” at his job by actress/producer and daughter of Tommy Chong, Rae Dawn Chong. He moved to Los Angeles to begin his career and the rest is history.
Of course, Vanity Fair just couldn’t just let Pratt tell his own story of salvation. God forbid (literally) they simply respect his story and his faith without judgment. Author Rich Cohen feels the deep responsibility to soothe his obviously more evolved readers who might be horrifically shocked to find out their favorite Hollywood actor actually believes in…gasp…JESUS.
O.K. Let’s stop for a moment. Because this is strange and so distant from what we expect of a movie star, especially of the clever, slapdash, wise-guy variety. But everyone needs a story to make sense of their life. Even the most successful. The extreme demands explanation. For Pratt, success, so extreme it scared him, is explained by metaphysical intervention. Which caused him to take control. In that moment, he yielded. His path has been clear ever since.
Don’t panic, Chris Pratt fans! He doesn’t really believe in the Giant Spaghetti Monster in the Sky. He couldn’t possibly be that stupid. No, he just needed a way to explain things and that story seemed as good as any.
Well, gee Mr. Cohen…condescending much?
Pratt goes on to talk about how his faith has been an important part of his journey as an actor and family man. Despite Cohen’s incredulous condescension, the interview is a very sweet look at a rare Hollywood leading-man phenomenon – a young man who is committed to his marriage, family and faith and views his life in terms of it’s blessings instead of it’s struggles.
Thank you, Chris Pratt. Sorry the Vanity Fair snobs don’t get it, but your fans do.
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