Chris Pratt can predict the future.<\/p>\n
OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but when we met last week to talk about his new film Mercy<\/a>, the actor had a pretty compelling case. Before we could get anywhere near the high-tech courtroom drama at the center of his latest project, Pratt and I \u2014 both raised in Washington \u2014 had to address a far more pressing matter: the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n Pratt made some bold predictions<\/a> ahead of the Dec. 18 game against the Los Angeles Rams and how the Seahawks would win. And then, improbably, it happened. Down 16 points in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks stormed back to win \u2014 just as Pratt had foretold.<\/p>\n He recounts the moment like a man still slightly stunned by his own clairvoyance. Sitting in a stadium box, disheartened by a late interception, Pratt ducked out to the bathroom and glanced at his phone. There it was: a clip of his earlier prediction circulating online<\/a> \u2014 his belief that the comeback would mirror the wild 2015 NFC championship game he\u2019d witnessed years earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cI stepped out to the whole box and said, \u2018Guys, we\u2019re gonna win,\u2019\u201d he tells Yahoo. \u201c\u2018I\u2019m gonna show you a video after we win, and you\u2019re gonna think that I\u2019m the freaking oracle.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t wrong. The comeback played out almost exactly as he\u2019d predicted, and by the final whistle, Pratt and his son Jack were both in tears. \u201cIt was wild,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n With a spot in the NFC championship on the line, the Seahawks faced the San Francisco 49ers last weekend \u2014 and once again, Pratt was right. His call may have been conservative, but the outcome was the same: Seattle took care of business, making it harder to argue with his unlikely oracle status. From there, our conversation shifted to a very different kind of future-gazing.<\/p>\n Pratt\u2019s new film Mercy is set in 2029, where he plays a detective accused of murdering his wife. His fate rests not with a jury of his peers, but with an advanced artificial intelligence judge \u2014 voiced by Rebecca Ferguson \u2014 that has 90 minutes to determine his guilt or innocence. The clock is literal. So is the dread.<\/p>\n The timing is hard to ignore. Hollywood is in the midst of an ongoing reckoning with AI<\/a>: how it\u2019s used, who controls it and what it means for creative labor. Mercy, in theaters on Jan. 23, arrives as those conversations are no longer theoretical, but urgent.<\/p>\n When I ask Pratt if making the film shifted his stance at all, he says no. \u201cWe didn\u2019t use any AI to make the movie,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone did a deep dive researching it, but it didn\u2019t really change my perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n That perspective is guarded but hopeful.<\/p>\n \u201cI see AI having a massive impact across the board, across every single industry. It\u2019s inevitable,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m cautiously optimistic that it\u2019s never going to replace actors, writers or directors.\u201d<\/p>\n Pratt stars in Mercy alongside Rebecca Ferguson, who voices the AI judge determining his character\u2019s fate. (Alberto Pezzali\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n (Alberto Pezzali\/Invision\/AP)<\/span><\/div>\n He reaches for an analogy: \u201cIt\u2019s like when you went from the screwdriver to the cordless drill,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe drill isn\u2019t just going to come up and frame a house for you. You still have to do the work. It just makes it faster and more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n In Pratt\u2019s view, AI could help streamline budgets, logistics and production workflows, ultimately freeing filmmakers to focus on storytelling. He\u2019s empathetic, though, to the fear that often accompanies technological progress. \u201cI have a soft spot in my heart for anybody displaced by advancements in technology,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it seems to be the way of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, he hopes the result is more opportunity, not less. \u201cMaybe this is me being a Pollyanna \u2014 it means more filmmakers can make more films.\u201d<\/p>\n That optimism is notable in an industry where anxiety often dominates the AI conversation. More than 700 artists and creators<\/a> \u2014 including Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett and Joseph Gordon-Levitt \u2014 are pushing back against AI companies they say are using copyrighted work without consent. And Matthew McConaughey recently took a proactive step<\/a> in the AI debate, securing eight trademarks designed to protect his likeness \u2014 including his voice, his smile and even certain signature catchphrases \u2014 from unauthorized use.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a particularly relevant question for Pratt, whose voice has become a global brand in recent years through animated hits like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Garfield Movie. Would he ever consider trademarking his likeness?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d Pratt says without hesitation. \u201cA likeness is just that.\u201d<\/p>\n He points to video games and digital re-creations as examples \u2014 impressive, but emotionally hollow. \u201cYou\u2019re not moved by those characters the way you are by a real human being,\u201d he says. \u201cOur eyes capture what we see. Our ears capture what we hear. We know the science behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n What can\u2019t be replicated, he argues, is the intangible. \u201cThere\u2019s something in our hearts that\u2019s moved by the invisible strings that connect one soul to another,\u201d Pratt says. \u201cThat\u2019s not something you can replicate through AI. You just can\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n His conclusion is both poetic and firm: \u201cUntil they can create a soul, I don\u2019t think actors or artists have anything to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n Mercy is one of the most physically restrained roles of Pratt\u2019s career \u2014 a far cry from the running, fighting and galaxy-saving that audiences have come to expect. For much of the film, he\u2019s seated, confined to a chair, under relentless scrutiny. But the stillness proved to be its own kind of endurance test.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty tiring. It was mentally exhausting,\u201d Pratt says. \u201cWe did really long takes \u2014 sometimes 50-minute takes. It was a little like doing a stage play. And so it was mentally exhausting. There was a ton of processing required in my brain that wasn\u2019t necessarily physical, but it was still really demanding.\u201d<\/p>\n To stay locked into the character\u2019s psychological spiral, Pratt enlisted an associate positioned out of sight, feeding him an internal monologue that only he could hear.<\/p>\n \u201cThings like, \u2018You f***ing did this. You piece of shit. You f***ing killed her,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cSo it was really exhausting in a super-challenging, unexpected way.\u201d<\/p>\n That vulnerability is part of what makes Mercy so effective \u2014 and what Pratt hopes audiences embrace by seeing it the way it was intended: in theaters, phones off, fully immersed.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal was to put the audience on trial,\u201d he says. \u201cAll the anxiety, anguish, fear, shame \u2014 the audience goes through that with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond the thriller mechanics, Pratt hopes viewers walk away with something simpler: a memory. \u201cThe movies I loved most growing up were the ones I saw in theaters,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a different experience. Turn your phone off. Be immersed. Have a shared experience with your friends or family. And later, you look back and say, \u2018I remember when I saw that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n From Seahawks predictions to soul-deep questions about humanity and technology, Pratt seems comfortable inhabiting both worlds \u2014 the playful and the profound. Oracle or not, he\u2019s clearly thinking about the future. And for now, at least, he\u2019s betting on something decidedly human.<\/p>\n Go Hawks.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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