Chris Pratt is every pastor’s dream come true.
When Pratt’s friend and director James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 for some resurfaced controversial tweets, Pratt helped him keep his head up.
Pratt told The Hollywood Reporter that he had been listening to a sermon in church on the Israelites circling the walls of Jericho for seven days. The tale of perseverance pushed Pratt to reach out to Gunn with some much-needed encouragement.
“In that moment, I was like, ‘This is about James. James is going to get this. This is going to be OK,’” Pratt said.
In the days following, Pratt sent encouraging Bible verses to Gunn, including James 1:2-4:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
Aside from just encouraging the director, Pratt also led efforts for the cast to write an open letter to Disney protesting Gunn’s dismissal. Eventually, Gunn was reinstated.
Pratt’s faith made a big impact on Gunn, who defended the actor’s faith back in 2022. False rumors were spreading about Pratt’s religious beliefs and Gunn, who had been reinstated thanks to Pratt’s efforts, responded to one user who suggested Pratt’s role as Star-Lord be replaced.
“For what? Because of your made-up, utterly-false beliefs about him?” Gunn asked. “For something that someone else told you about him that’s not true? Chris Pratt would never be replaced as Star-Lord but, if he ever was, we would all be going with him.”
Gunn even came to his defense after questions were raised about Pratt’s church.
“I know the church he currently goes to. Do you?” Gunn challenged. “The answer is you don’t, but you heard from someone who heard from someone who heard from someone where he goes to church, so decided, ‘Yeah, OK, I’ll believe this terrible thing I heard online about this celebrity!’”
