"I just didn’t quite understand” — Joel Edgerton talks about failing his audition for Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy

Australian actor Joel Edgerton recently revealed that he auditioned for the character, Star-Lord, in the Marvel franchise titled Guardians of the Galaxy. However, he didn't get the part because he could not understand the tone that writer-director, James Gunn, was looking for.

During his appearance in an episode of The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast (May 9), Joel mentioned:

"And I truly think that the world is a much better place that I’m not Star-Lord, even if I had the opportunity or I did a good enough audition because it is the way it’s meant to be. And there was never a real conversation that it would have definitely been me. It was just, I had the opportunity to try and audition. I just didn’t quite understand it."

The career-defining role eventually went to Chris Pratt, who featured in two Guardians of the Galaxy sequels and various other Marvel movies, such as Avengers: End Game.

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"I wasn’t really sure how I could be a part of that tone" —Joel Edgerton recalls auditioning for Star-Lord role

Joel Edgerton was at the sit-down with his co-star, Jennifer Connelly, for the promotion of their latest Apple TV+ sci-fi series titled Dark Matter.

Joel Edgerton is a famous actor known for his performances in projects, namely The Secret Life of Us, The Great Gatsby, Master Gardner, and more. He also played Owen Lars in the Star Wars movies titled Attack of the Clones in 2002 and Revenge of the Sith in 2005. In 2022, he reprised the role in the Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

During the podcast, the actor and filmmaker talked about his audition for Star-Lord and how he failed to get the role. He stated:

"Star-Lord’s a good one, actually, because I, unlike Chris, didn’t quite sort of understand the tone of it the way he did and the way that those guys did. And I wasn’t really sure how I could be a part of that tone."

Joel Edgerton explained that it was never said that he would "definitely" be Star-Lord and praised Chris Pratt for his portrayal.

The 2014 Marvel movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, follows the story of a ragtag group of space criminals who become a team to save the universe from a villain and his orb. Their leading cast members include Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Lee Pace.

Meanwhile, actress Jennifer Connelly also talked about her experience working in a Marvel movie. She played the role of Karen, the Artificial Intelligence voice inside Tom Holland’s suit, in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Even though Connelly did not return for the sequels titled Far From Home or No Way Home, she insisted that she would “absolutely” be willing to be a part of the franchise again.

"I think that they make great films and my husband [Paul Bettany, who played Vision in the Avengers films] has had such a fantastic time working with all of them, and they have such a great group of actors working with them. I would absolutely do it," Connelly added.

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Joel Edgerton plays Jason Dessen in the new series, Dark Matter, which is based on Blake Crouch’s novel of the same name. The sci-fi series premiered on May 8 with two episodes already out. The team is set to drop a new episode on Apple TV+ every Wednesday until the finale on June 26, 2024.