Chris Pratt takes over the voice of Garfield in a delightfully wacky animated adventure. The Garfield Movie tells our favorite, lasagna-loving, Monday-hating orange tabby’s origin story with a slapstick twist. Garfield meets Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), the father he thought abandoned him as a kitten, and reluctantly goes off on an adventure to clear his significant debt.

Pratt admits to being nervous about replacing Bill Murray, but had the director Mark Dindal’s confidence with his “sarcastic sort of laziness” voice. Please watch above and read on for our complete interview with the always affable Chris Pratt, whose son has a hilarious take on Pratt’s MCU career.

Getting Garfield Creator Jim Davis’ Approval
The Garfield Movie Release Date May 24, 2024 Studio Alcon Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Paws

MovieWeb: I love Garfield and this film. You’re an action star. Now you’ve brought a lot of action to this new Garfield animated comedy. The first question is, what did Jim Davis [Garfield’s creator] think? What was his reaction to the film, and of you taking over as the voice of Garfield?

Chris Pratt: I have heard now secondhand that he gave me a 10 out of 10. I heard that about two hours ago. I was surprised at how moving that was to me. I guess I didn’t quite recognize the pressure I’d put on myself to make sure that he was happy. And to hear that he was happy was very moving to me. So he gave it 10 out of 10. That’s enough for me. I feel pretty good about that.

Related 10 Funniest Garfield Comics of All Time Garfield loves lasagna, hates Mondays, and has given the world a lot of funny comic strips.

MW: Let’s give some props to director Mark Dindal because he and the animators did such a great job. What was it like working with him? Were you ever in the room with Samuel L. Jackson and Nicholas Hoult [Jon Arbuckle]?

Chris Pratt: Well, you know what? I was never in the room with Sam Jackson or Nicholas Hoult, but I was always in the room with Mark Dindal. Which was really nice, because this came at the end of COVID. When we did Mario [The Super Mario Bros. Movie], I was never in the room with the directors. It was really isolating and it kind of made things complicated.

Chris Pratt: Mark was an absolute pleasure. He knew exactly what he wanted. It’s like when you watch the Olympics; you know how someone’s skiing down a mountain? You go, ‘Man, they make it look easy.’ He made it look easy. And he made it easy, he made the process easy. I would jump to work with him again. He’s so sweet and open to collaboration. Just really kind of like a sweet, gentle guy, and man, he’s really pleasant to be around. So I found the process to be actually very enjoyable. Which sometimes these processes are, and sometimes they’re not. This was really enjoyable.

Related Every Garfield TV Special, Ranked It is time we look back at every Garfield TV special and rank them based on humor, creativity, and how well each expanded on the character’s spirit.

An Easy Process with Director Mark Dindal

MW: Your kids must worship you. You’re Mario, you’re Star-Lord, you’re Owen in Jurassic Park. And now you’re Garfield too…

Chris Pratt: Oh, man (laughs).

MW: How awesome is it to come home and be like, ‘I’m all of these dudes?’

Chris Pratt: My daughters have never seen anything I’ve ever been in, and they don’t even know I’m an actor. And my son is at this age, as a tween, that if he did feel that way, he certainly wouldn’t let me know. So he tends to, like, more make fun of me, which I think is great because it’s sort of our love language to tease each other. But he’s always constantly reminding me of how, you know, Star Lord is the weakest Avengers character and the worst character, or the second-worst character, in the MCU. I’m like, ‘Okay, thanks.’

Chris Pratt: So hopefully they love me because I’m dad. But if they find out one day down the road that I voiced these characters, I don’t know how it might be. I’ll be curious to see how they react. It might be a minute before they realize that it’s special because, as it is now, they don’t even know what I do, which is cool.

Related Why Garfield’s Appearance Has Changed So Much Over the Years Garfield is one of the most iconic cats out there, but how much has his look changed since his comic strip debut, and why?

Garfield: From Bill Murray to Chris Pratt

MW: Now, obviously, the previous Garfield films came out a while back, but you know, everyone loves Bill Murray. So do you feel any trepidation about taking over from him?

Chris Pratt: Of course, yeah. I mean, he’s the GOAT. He’s on my comedy Mount Rushmore. I would have, but Mark very early on let me know his vision for the sound of this character. The voice that he’s always heard coming out of this animation, that he’d been working on for years before I even met him, was my voice. He said, ‘I want him to sound like you. You’ve got a natural, sarcastic sort of laziness about your voice that really works for this character.’

Chris Pratt: And I thought, ‘Well then, that makes it look easy. You know, that’s easy. I’m not coming in and trying to do anything other than just be myself, and breathe my own spirit into the role, and that’s what the director wanted. So every day when I did that, he said, fantastic job. I felt like I was doing exactly what I was asked to do. It took the pressure off in a way.

The Garfield Movie will be released theatrically on May 24th from Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures.