Summary

Collider’s Steve Weintraub sits down with The Electric State co-stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

From the Russo Brothers, The Electric State is an graphic novel adaptation about a post-humans vs. robots war, and one girl’s mission to reconnect with her brother.

In this interview, Brown and Pratt discuss their personal relationships with the internet and social media, Pasta Fridays with the crew, and their most challenging scenes to film to date.

Our world is ever-evolving technologically, from smartphones and TVs to the advancement of AI and everything beyond. As a response to these changin’ times, the Russo Brothers—directors, writers, and producers Anthony and Joe Russo—are bringing their vision of Simon Stålenhag’s retro-futuristic world to Netflix with The Electric State.
In addition to being one of the filmmakers’ most VFX-heavy projects, The Electric State also features a stacked cast, led by Stranger Things breakout Millie Bobby Brown and The Terminal List’s Chris Pratt. In the movie, the US in the ’90s is a war-torn landscape, and Michelle (Brown) must set out on a perilous mission to track down her younger brother. She’s joined by a sweet robot companion and an eccentric drifter, Keats (Pratt). The Electric State also features Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan, Anthony Mackie, Colman Domingo, and more.
In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Brown and Pratt discuss Pasta Fridays, their most challenging takes to date, and their personal relationships with smart phones and technology. They also share updates for Enola Holmes 3 and The Terminal List. Check out the full conversation in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.
This Duo Missed Out on Stanley Tucci’s Pasta Fridays!

“He didn’t invite me.”

Image via Netflix

COLLIDER: I really want to start with congrats, and I actually want to say a huge thank you to Netflix for making original movies like this because it does feel like the studios are retreating into safe and sequels and IP that everybody knows. It’s really refreshing when they take a big swing like this.
CHRIS PRATT: I completely agree. That was my first thought reading the script. Like, “The production value, knowing the size and scope of a film like this, but based on relatively unknown IP? Wow, what a swing.” Really, I felt the same exact way.
MILLIE BOBBY BROWN: Totally.
It’s literally because of the two of you that people are going to tune in for this. I’m very happy you guys made this. So, I’m going to ask probably the most important question up front, which is I read that Stanley Tucci held Pasta Fridays during the production. Did you go to these Pasta Fridays? What were they like?
PRATT: He didn’t invite me.
BROWN: [Laughs] Chris Pratt on Fridays is flying home to his family all the time.
PRATT: Yeah, I went home every weekend.
BROWN: Every Friday. So, he gets a pass. I didn’t work with Stanley once in the film. I actually met him yesterday, so I wasn’t there for the days that he was working. Had I have been, pasta is my absolute favorite thing. Although, I did have a hairstylist, Luca [Vannella], who also made pasta, and he’s very traditionally Italian, and it was exquisite. So, it’s a lot of Italians on that set.
PRATT: Yeah, it’s true.
BROWN: When I would do a good job on a take, I did get cannolis. I was promised cannolis and I got a cannoli. So, yeah. It’s very Italian. I love Italy and Italian food, so it was a yes.
The Russos don’t mess around.
BROWN: They really don’t.
Millie Bobby Brown Once Did 70 Takes for This Monster Movie

“Oh, it’s been eight hours…”

Image via Legendary Pictures

What’s the most amount of takes you’ve ever done on a project, and why?
PRATT: Oh my gosh.
BROWN: I know my answer. I was on Godzilla [King of the Monsters] and I did 70 takes for one shot.
PRATT: Really?
BROWN: Yeah, I did.
It’s almost like a Fincher shoot. I’m joking. I love Fincher.
BROWN: No, it was definitely intense. I remember seeing 70 on the slate and being like, “Oh, it’s been eight hours.” That would be mine. What about you?
PRATT: I don’t know. I always nail it in the first two, and then if they want another one, I say, “If you want another one, print it twice.” And then I walk off. So, two. I think mine would be two.
BROWN: I’ve seen that happen. He does walk off. No, he hasn’t done that ever!
PRATT: I don’t think I’ve ever had that experience. There was one I remember on this film, Passengers. There was a stunt sequence where I was being pulled through an elevator, and this spaceship I was on opens up, and I’m being yanked through this, and we could not get it right because it didn’t feel like I was being pulled straight out. It felt like I was on wires. I know that we did that at least 25 times, and it was a really violent stunt, so the next day, my arms were black underneath. But I was the one insisting on doing it.

Image via Sony Pictures

BROWN: That is similar to the Godzilla thing. It was a huge stunt. It was a huge thing. That’s why it kept going. It wasn’t like a dialogue scene. I think if it was a dialogue scene, I think I would have cried.
PRATT: The important thing, my motto is always “perfect is good enough.” So, if you gotta get it right. You just do it as many times as you have to. What I don’t like is when you’ve got it right, and they go, “Let’s do it again for safety.”
BROWN: Ugh! For safety!
PRATT: I’m like, “Why? Did you leave the lens cap on? No. You got it. Know when you’ve got it and move on.”
BROWN: The safety kills me.
PRATT: “Just for safety.”
I’ve heard this many, many times.
‘The Electric State’ Encourages Viewers to Put Their Phones Down

“It’s all addictive.”

So one of the things about the author Simon [Stålenhag]’s graphic novel is the neurocasters are a metaphor for, basically, smartphones and the fact that people are just disappearing in technology. One of the things that the film is getting into is trying to step back and enjoy the physical world. For both of you, do you feel like you have an addiction to your smartphone? What do you do to push technology away to be with people and in the moment?
PRATT: I do. I do feel like I have an addiction with the smartphone. I’m mindful about it, and I try to use it less. When I’m around my kids, I try not to use it. I also try to make sure that the time that I am spending on our phones, because inevitably we’re going to do things on our phones, that I’m doing something that’s a little bit more nourishing spiritually or mentally. So, rather than scrolling through passive entertainment-based, algorithm-driven content, I started that Bible in a Year thing on our movie, and I do a lot of books on tape and listen to music and that kind of stuff, or do meditative apps and things like that. So, trying to fill the finite amount of time we have to use our phones to actually do something productive.

BROWN: I am pretty much entirely disconnected from the internet. I don’t have Instagram. Everybody else controls that for me. I don’t believe that technology should be given to children too young. I think that it is addictive. Social media, TikTok, it’s all addictive, and I just don’t think that children should be exposed to that kind of content that young. For me, I still feel like I’m just not ready to expose myself to that kind of content, especially when it’s negative or not serving me in any positive way. So, yeah, I’m somebody who really tries to disconnect myself from the outside world—still be informed, still watch the news, still understand what’s going on in the world, but also be very present in reality.
‘Enola Holmes 3’ Begins Filming “In the Coming Weeks”

Pratt also shares his 2025 schedule for ‘The Terminal List.’

Image via Netflix

What are you both filming this year? I’m a fan of both of your works, and I want to know what you’re doing.
PRATT: I’m going to be doing the second season of Terminal List. I’m gonna be shooting that pretty much all year. We’ll start in March, and I’ll be working on that, going back and forth, family time and work time, for about six or seven months.
BROWN: I’m going to be doing an Enola Holmes 3 this year.
Speaking of Enola Holmes, when do you start filming?
BROWN: We start filming in the coming weeks. I’m very excited.
Is Henry coming back?
BROWN: You’ll have to wait and see.
The Electric State hits Netflix on March 14.

The Electric State

Release Date

March 14, 2025

Writers

Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely