Chris Pratt says it’s ‘amazing’ to have ‘freakin’ jacked’ J.K. Simmons play his dad in 'The Tomorrow War'

Chris Pratt is no stranger to having strong father figures in his life, especially considering his father-in-law is Arnold Schwarzenegger, but now he has a "freakin' jacked" on-screen dad in his new movie, The Tomorrow War. 

In The Tomorrow War, Pratt teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J.K. Simmons) in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet and save the world for his young daughter.

Pratt called having Simmons play his dad in the movie “amazing.”

“My favourite part of these films is always the relationships you form with people. I just love him so much as a human being. We had an incredible time. He’s so immensely talented and just so generous and nice,. He’s an Oscar-winner and he’s got the pedigree and the resume and decades of success,” Pratt said.

“And the body of a 30-year-old,” Pratt's co-star Edwin Hodge added.

“You’re right, he’s freakin’ jacked,” Pratt said, adding, “When you work with someone like J.K. you’re a fool to not just sit back, watch and learn.”

“He's so generous and so giving. Other people in the same position aren’t for some reason, and he is. He’s a great example for anyone to find the level of success that he’s found to remain humble and kind and giving and nice and generous,” Pratt said.

The Tomorrow War tells the story of a group of time travellers who arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: 30 years in the future, mankind is losing a global war against a deadly alien species.

The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is high school teacher and family man Dan Forester (Chris Pratt). 

The movie is full of action from the beginning to end and Pratt compared working on this film to some of his other action-packed projects *cough* Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World *cough.*

“There’s a lot of action in this film and it really goes. There’s a lot of story as well for the two-hour film there is a great deal of story being told so it does really move at a pretty fast clip. Once we, you know, kick it into high gear to start that chapter of the story that takes place in 2051, it’s really nonstop until the end of the movie.”

Pratt said that it falls in line with his specific skill set: "a lot of running" and a lot of "running away from monsters."

"There was a lot of that. Usually, with those films, there’s a slightly larger ensemble so I’m not in every frame running away from monsters. In this one, I was in a lot of it so the workload was amped up. It was like sprint paced but a marathon long race," Pratt explained.

“It’s an epic film so when you have such a large stage to play on you just got to bring it,” Hodge added.

The cast got to shoot on a glacier in Iceland for this movie, which has plenty of breathtaking scenes.

Hodge said that the highlight for him was seeing the aurora borealis. 

“That was a bucket list item for myself and I got to scratch it off... Glaciers, it’s one of the natural wonders of the world and how they’re formed and built. Being able to just experience that and ride through it, we were snowmobiling on top of a glacier, it was crazy. At the same time, it was very dangerous. There are fissures and things of that nature that we had to be mindful of. It’s an experience that we are afforded because we get to do what we do. We have to appreciate it.”

Pratt said that the fissures reminded them how dangerous it was to be shooting a movie on a glacier.

“The fissures are dangerous. In fact, they had just recovered a couple that had fallen in there in 1918. They didn’t survive, but they were like frozen time… They fell in and froze, and they were perfectly preserved because of the cold," Pratt said. "If you were ever wondering why you have to stay on the path, they were quick to remind you that in 100 years, they could find you all preserved in your clothing from 2021."

All jokes aside, Pratt said there was a moment with their director Chris McKay who was shooting at the top of the glacier while holding the camera on top of his shoulder. Pratt noted that McKay and told the cast, “this is what I got into this for.”

BEFORE YOU GO: Celebs come to Chris Pratt’s defense after voted “worst Chris”

[video_embed id='2059688']BEFORE YOU GO: Celebs come to Chris Pratt’s defense after voted “worst Chris”[/video_embed]