Chris Pratt Says He Tried to 'Just Be Myself' as the Voice of Garfield and Not Emulate Bill Murray

Bill Murray previously voiced the iconic orange cat in 'Garfield: The Movie' and 'Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties'

Chris Pratt wasn't worried about following up Bill Murray as Garfield.

The actor, who voices the iconic cartoon character in The Garfield Movie, recently spoke with MovieWeb about taking the role some 20 years after Bill Murray first voiced him on the big screen in 2004's Garfield: The Movie.

"Well, of course, he's the GOAT. He's on my comedy Mount Rushmore," Pratt, 44, said when asked if he felt any trepidation about taking on a role Murray, 73, originated on the big screen.

"I would have [been nervous], but [director Mark Dindal] very early on let me know that his vision for the sound of this character, the voice that he's always heard coming out of this animation he's been working on for years before I even met him, was my voice."

"He said, 'I want him to sound like you. You've got a natural sarcastic sort of laziness about your voice that really works for this character,' " Pratt added of the filmmaker's vision for the animated Garfield movie.

"And I thought, well damn, that makes it look easy. That's easy — I'm not coming in and trying to do anything other than just be myself and breathe my own spirit into the role."

Related: Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger Celebrate Daughter Eloise's 2nd Birthday: 'Love You to the Moon'

Pratt is no stranger to voice acting, having voiced the iconic video game character Mario in 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the leads in 2014's The LEGO Movie and Pixar's Onward in 2020.

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The Garfield Movie also features Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillén, Brett Goldstein, Samuel L. Jackson and Bowen Yang in its voice cast.

The movie follows Garfield and the dog Odie as they meet Garfield's father Vic (Jackson, 75) and "are forced from their perfectly pampered life into joining Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist," per a synopsis.

Related: Chris Pratt Shares Why His Daughters Eloise and Lyla Haven't Watched Anything He's Been In (Exclusive)

Pratt posed with Garfield comic strip creator Jim Davis at the movie's Los Angeles premiere on May 19. While speaking with MovieWeb about the voice role recently, Pratt said he was happy to hear Davis, 78, approved of his performance as Garfield.

"I have heard now second-hand that he gave me a 10 out of 10. I heard that about two hours ago and I was surprised at how moving that was to me," he said. "I guess I didn't quite recognize the pressure I had put on myself to make sure that he was happy, and to hear that he was happy was very moving to me."

The Garfield Movie is in theaters now.

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