Get To Know Chris Pratt & Cobie Smulders of DELIVERY MAN! ~ #DeliveryManEvent Interview

So I’m sure you know by now (especially if you’ve been keeping up with my blog updates) that DELIVERY MAN hit theaters over the weekend! I’ve already seen the film more than once and it had me laughing (and shedding a few tears!) each time. If you have a moment after reading this blog post, be sure to check out experience on the red carpet premiere of Delivery Man, as well as my review of the film and interview with Vince Vaughn. In the film Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation, Zero Dark Thirty) plays Brett, who is the best friend and lawyer of Vince’s character David. Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, Avengers) plays Emma, who is pregnant with David’s child.

Cobie was the first one to arrive! Chris was running a little late due to traffic issues. His wife, actress Anna Faris, was so kind enough to tweet out that they were late using our official event hashtag #DeliveryManEvent!! How awesome is that? (Thanks Anna!). Before Chris arrived, we chatted with Cobie on how she become involved with the film. She noted that she had been a fan of the the French Canadian film Starbuck which Delivery Man is based off of. Cobie was a huge fan of the script and characters. Plus being Canadian, she loved that it was originally a Candadian film! Once she heard Vince Vaughn was attached to the film, she decided to go ahead and audition. Good thing she did, because as you can probably guess since we interviewing her… she got the role. It wasn’t long before Chris arrived!

Original Photo: Marshall Weinbaum. Photo edits by me.

As with the other interviews I’ve been posting, below I’ve included some highlights. Both Chris and Cobie were super-friendly and easy to interview. They seemed very genuinely happy to be part of the film

How did being a mom affect your role?

COBIE: This movie is really all about parenting. It’s all about what it takes to be a parent. So I automatically connected with that at the same time. I was pregnant in this film, and I remember just crazy emotions that come into play when you’re pregnant. I think that one of the things that I know I crave and I think that pregnant women do crave is stability. You’re in this situation where especially if it’s your first child a lot of things are unknown. In terms of this movie, the character of Emma, she has a very unreliable partner so she’s just sort of trying to figure all that out.

CHRIS: Well for me, my son was had just been born when I was doing this movie. I think he was maybe two months old. So for me I wasn’t necessarily able to relate to my character’s journey as a father in this movie because he’s like so overwhelmed with the idea of being a father. I was still finding every little tiny thing endlessly fascinating about my own son. I did miss him a lot. So there were moments in the performance where I needed to just stare off into space and think about something that bummed me out. The fact that I was away from him was something that I could go to if I needed to so that was, that was my way out.

Original Photo: MomStart.com. Photo edits by me.

(To Chris) How did you gain the weight for the film and then loose it?

CHRIS: I really applied all of the principles of losing weight and just reversed them. I had just come off from a movie (Zero Dark Thirty) where I had gotten in good shape. In a way like how a lot of people lose weight I just crash dieted and worked out and starved myself until I was skinny. So by the time I was done with that movie my body was really ready to gain weight, rapidly. My wife was in the last third of her pregnancy, so a good 20 pounds of that was probably just sympathy weight. I was gaining weight alongside her as we indulged in things that we don’t normally eat.

I had a meeting with the director and I saw the original movie. The actor who played my role in the original, really brilliant actor, and part of the charm was that he was a bit of a bigger guy and I thought that would be really great. It’s a role where I can gain a lot of weight and I’ve always wanted to do that. I’ve done it before once and I really wanted to do it again and see if I could really push it this time.

Then I lost it. I wish it could have been immediate but it took a long time. It took about seven months or eight months to lose it. Where to gain it, I had wrapped on Zero Dark Thirty in June and so by November I had gained about 70 pounds.

What was it like working with Vince?

COBIE: I loved working with Vince. I think he’s everything that you would kind of expect him to be. Super funny, super quick. Going into this movie I was very intimidated because, because he’s sort of known for his amazing improv. I am very rusty and so when I came to this film and met him, he was so supportive! He’s also very considerate and very charming. He really goes out of his way to put everyone at ease on set and set the tone for everybody. It was pretty great.

CHRIS: I feel the same thing. He’s beloved by people, his fans and people because he just seems real. He seems like a regular guy and I think that he’s everything you would really hope that he would if you’re a fan of his. He’s not like some Hollywood a**hole. He’s no nonsense when it comes down to doing work. He does work and makes sure everyone around him does good work and that’s important as the captain of the ship. But at the same time he’s charming and caring. He’s polite to everyone from the people who are his wait staff at restaurants to fans and strangers on the street who approach him. He always gives a little bit of himself to people so he’s really everything you’d hope he would be.

What’s your favorite scene?

Original Photo: MomStart.com. Photo edits by me.

What did you like most about the story?

COBIE: For me, I was really moved the way that Vince’s character, David, chose to reconnect, not even reconnect, to connect for the first time with his children that were his biologically. I really loved the way that Ken (Ken Scott the director) wrote these scenes and the way that it all sort of played out.

CHRIS: For me it goes back to this execution of this idea. The film went to real places and really about halfway through when he (David) starts his journey on finding out about the kids. Some of them are crazy like a professional NBA player or an actor who needs a role and he helps him get the role. That’s great. Then all of a sudden you’ve got a kid who has needed assistance his entire life and lives in an assistant living home. That’s like then all of a sudden you’re moved. There’s a girl with chemical dependency issues. You’re starting to dealing with these themes and these realities that make it a real examination of humanity versus how silly you could play out the outlandish part of this.

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During this trip to Los Angeles, we were also attending the THOR: THE DARK WORLD premiere. Thor is Marvel film, and considering that both Cobie and Chris play Marvel characters in other movies, we couldn’t help but ask what is next for them Marvel-wise! Cobie noted that being part of anything created by Marvel is just a dream! She hinted that she is potentially shooting the second Avengers film, and that Captain America: The Winter Soldier (in which she does appear) will be out in April 2014.

As for Chris, he’ll be seen in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy as Peter Quill/Star-Lord. He couldn’t say too much about the film, but describe it as a “sort of rocking space opera type story” that takes place in space. He complimented the ensemble cast he’s working with. You could tell he is really excited to be part of the film… and I’m really excited to see the film!

Original Photo: MomStart.com. Photo edits by me.

Don’t forget to connect with DELIVERY MAN on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram! The film is out NOW! So hopefully you caught it this weekend! Definitely a great heartfelt movie to see with the family. This film is rated PG-13 and run 103 minutes long.

Be sure to follow along with all the Delivery Man fun with the #DeliveryManEvent hashtag.

While I attended an expense paid trip by Disney to the Delivery Man Premiere, all opinions are 100% my own.