Chris Pratt is once again living up to his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most patriotic stars.
The actor virtually surprised a group of deployed Army servicemen with a sneak peek of his upcoming action movie, “The Tomorrow War,” in which he stars as a family man who travels to the future to fight an alien invader.
In a video shared exclusively with People, Pratt told the four soldiers he had planned a special dinner for their families and arranged for them all to watch an early preview together.
Pratt also thanked the men, saying that his favorite part of being an influential celebrity is the opportunity it affords him to “openly show support for our men and women in uniform. “You mean the world to me,” he said, adding. “I mean that I understand that the life I live inside of a bubble of protection that you provide for me. Just know, I do not take it for granted. I’m living my dream and I know you’re making that possible. Thank you.”
Pratt then took questions, telling one person who asked if he’d always plan to be an actor that the career seemed like a pipedream when he was young. “My brother went into the army and he’s now a sheriff’s deputy,” he said. “I thought I wanted to be an actor, but I thought I wanted to be an actor the way a kid wants to be an astronaut. I knew I wanted to do it but I never knew how I’d do it.”
This wasn’t the first time Pratt has shown his respect for the military.
Most recently, The Daily Wire reported, Pratt honored those who lost their lives serving our country, posting a lengthy Memorial Day message to his Instagram page.
“America’s exceptional armed forces have altered the course of the world for the better. From the Union Army defeating slave owning confederates, to the Greatest Generation and her Allies vanquishing the Nazis or our special operators hunting down the perpetrators of 9/11,” he said in a caption to a series of photos of men and women who died while in service. “We count the names of each fallen soldier lest they be countless. They are the good guys. They run to the sound of gunfire. They know pain and suffering we never will.”
Pratt continued, “They have given us the most free and decent society planet earth has ever seen. We run the risk of losing that decency when we fail to instill gratitude in the minds of our youth or the perspective of what it actually means to be free- should they never learn of the selfless sacrifice of our armed service members in the face of oppressive evil. So join me in showing support for our fallen. Take a quiet moment to really consider the sacrifice.”
“The Tomorrow War” will begin streaming on Amazon Prime on July 2.