He is best known as the lovably dim Andy Dwyer on NBC Parks and Recreationit was the main role in Guardians of the Galaxy that has turned Chris Pratt into a full-blown superstar. Aside from his transformation from goofy sidekick to charismatic leading man, Pratt underwent a headline-grabbing physical transformation to lead the ragtag team of space misfits as Peter Quill.

“It felt like a perfect fit to me straight away. “I felt like I made it from my first audition, but I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it physically because I was still pretty tall,” Pratt admitted to The Huffington Post. “I mean, I knew he had my spirit – I knew my spirit was right. And I knew it sounded right, I just didn’t look right yet.”

And then-director James Gunn sort of agreed, admitting, “I didn’t even want to see Chris at first. He was overweight at the time and seemed like a comedy guy, and he didn’t think he was the right person for the role. But he came in and did his audition, and after 20 seconds I thought, ‘That’s the guy.'”

Still, Pratt lost 30 pounds in six months and hilariously documented the journey on Instagram (“Six months without beer. #GOTG Kinda stupid to post this but my brother made me do it,” was the caption for one photo shirtless at the gym) and finally he landed countless magazine covers and headlines extolling his impressive new body.

“He’s an incredibly grumpy, goofy guy Parks and Recreationand he’s an incredibly fit guy Zero Dark Thirty and that’s pretty awesome,” Feige said after the unexpected casting news was officially announced. “He’s going to need this.” Guardian. That’s a wide range.”

Pratt had no idea at the audition that the Marvel team was looking far into the future, and Feige revealed, “We’ve always cast for the movie we’re making, but we also have our eyes on the future. So when we were.” In casting Chris Pratt, we needed the best Star-Lord, but at the same time we said, “We need someone who could one day compete with Robert Downey Jr.” (Which they did. ) Infinity War.)

While it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Pratt, with his effortless charm and swagger, playing Peter, Marvel had thought about it Eddie Redmayne, Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt And Lee Pace for the role, with Pace eventually taking on the role of villain Ronan the Accuser. But the No. 1 contender after Pratt appeared to be one It’s always sunny in Philadelphia Star: Glenn Howerton.