Chris Pratt: ‘I was sick on a boat – it wasn’t coming out of my mouth’

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video ‘This is gonna get gross…’ Chris Pratt warns. And gross is certainly what it got, as he recalled battling sickness in graphic detail while filming on a tiny sailboat in Africa. After a four-year wait, Chris, 47, returns as the leading man in Amazon Prime Video’s The Terminal List, stepping back into Navy SEAL James Reece’s gear for more edge-of-your-seat action. And while ‘authenticity’ is a buzzword throughout my interviews with Chris and the show’s makers, it seems the Marvel star took it rather literally… Reminiscing about shooting on location, he reveals his, ahem, gastrointestinal issues inadvertently enhanced the realism of his character’s circumstances. ‘There was a moment on the boat where I was really suffering from E. coli, and this is gonna get gross, but, you know, if I had a sip of water, it was not going to stay in my body,’ he tells Metro. Chris Pratt returns for another outing as James Reece in The Terminal List (Picture: Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Prime Video) ‘And it was not going to come out of my mouth.’ ‘So… how does that work?’, the actor ponders sarcastically, turning to creator Jack Carr beside him, who mocks, ‘I don’t get it.’ ‘I was like, “You know what? I’m just gonna gruel this out,’ Chris continues. ‘It’s four days. I’m just gonna be dehydrated and sick on this boat.” And that was really hard. But we just went for it. ‘It was a small sailboat, an authentic, real sailboat; there was no support boat with a bathroom. If you needed to go to the bathroom, it was gonna be, like, a 40-minute shutdown and turnaround, so I just didn’t eat or drink anything for four days to knock that off.’ ‘Method acting,’ Jack declares, with Chris agreeing, ‘Yeah, real method.’ Despite sweat seeping through his mattress at night, Chris powered on, as the filming schedule was tight. Ultimately, in a bizarre turn of events, his sick state managed to enhance his performance, as viewers pick up with Reece the fugitive out in the Pacific Ocean, close to death, heading towards Mozambique. Season two picks up with the fugitive close to death while out in the ocean (Picture: Justin Lubin/Prime) In season one – which co-stars Constance Wu and Luke Hemsworth – Reece narrowly survives death when his Alpha platoon is ambushed, killing almost the entire team. Upon returning home with memory lapses and chronic headaches, he discovers his wife and daughter have also been murdered and unearths a dark conspiracy that resulted in carefully orchestrated, premeditated deaths. Curating a list of targets to eliminate, he seeks vengeance, his life in perpetual danger. Season two continues the story of Jack’s best-selling novels, with Reece now on a quest for violent redemption across East and North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, this time attempting to clear his name by working with the CIA to take down a resurgent terrorist organisation. The most gruelling role of my career Quote Quote Admitting it is the most gruelling role he’s undertaken, Chris describes this season as ‘incredibly challenging for multiple reasons’, especially because the team travelled so far around the world. ‘It was a grind. It was very ambitious and incredibly rewarding, but yes, challenging,’ he says, going on to share the ‘responsibility’ of doing the book series justice by bringing the character to life. ‘Authenticity is something we all deeply care about, and not just trying to get the little details right about combat or about behaviour or gear and all that stuff. We’re really trying to make sure that fans of this book feel as though this was made for them,’ he explains. ‘Shows like this don’t often get made’ (Picture: Marni Grossman/Prime) The Terminal List has continued to divide audiences and critics (Picture: Justin Lubin/Prime) ‘It feels as though shows like this don’t often get made, and that fan base is often overlooked, so making sure that we stay true to that fandom is really important. It drives us.’ Echoing Chris’s sentiment, novelist and screenwriter Jack, also a former Navy SEAL sniper, says the military background of other cast and crew members strengthened their ties to the show. ‘Everyone with those backgrounds is so invested,’ he says. ‘For them, it’s not just a show. We wanna make the show for someone who has done those jobs, so when they sit down and crack a drink at the end of the day, put their feet up, they can watch this compelling story and not get drawn out of it because we messed something up.’ We feel a big responsibility to get it right Quote Quote At ‘every single level’, from the writers’ room to the stunt performers to sound and post-production, there’s someone around who knows what they’re talking about, which Jack says makes for an environment where ego is pushed aside, and the goal becomes to ‘make the best show we possibly can’. One of those experts is Jared Shaw, an actor, producer, stuntman, and former Navy SEAL for over 10 years, who explains that veterans are hired both in front of and behind the cameras to fine-tune the storyline. ‘I have a lot of buddies who are currently still serving, and a lot who have got out, and for me, that’s the biggest compliment: when one of my buddies reaches out and says, “Hey, we see you; we see what you’re doing”,’ he says. ‘They understand there are times we have to add what we call the Hollywood hot sauce in there and deviate a little from true tactics – there are just things we can’t or won’t show that could possibly put our service members in danger, but overall, we wanna get it right for that community.’ ‘We feel like, if we can set the bar for military authenticity and great espionage storytelling, then that will not only help our show; it will help Hollywood in general,’ says showrunner David DiGilio. The Terminal List season 2 - what are the reviews saying? Audiences Rotten Tomatoes: 91% ‘Another great win for Jack Carr, Chris Pratt, Antoine Fuqua, and Amazon. If you want realism, grounded action and a story that keeps you in and wanting more, this is your show’ – Chris T ‘Worth the 4 year wait. While there were changes from the book (like all screen adaptations) this was stunning and so well done’ – Jared B ‘8 episodes isn’t enough! I hope we don’t have to wait long for season 3’ – Frankie G Critics Rotten Tomatoes: 60% ‘As someone who really liked the first season, the very existence of The Terminal List Season 2 feels unnecessary’ – Pramit Chatterjee, Digital Mafia Talkies ‘The Terminal List Season 2 is extremely boring, with nothing really happening throughout the runtime that justifies its 8-episode runtime’ – Archi Sengupta, LeisureByte.com ‘As it is, The Terminal List season two is better than the first, and fans of the first season will be very happy with where this story ends up’ – Alex Maidy, JoBlo’s Movie Network Season one went down a treat with audiences, who awarded it a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes – a stark contrast to the 42% from critics. Regardless of poor reviews, though, the Terminal List team is still hopeful of the show having a prosperous future. ‘I’d love to see it grow,’ says Jack, who’s published eight novels in the series, alongside spin-offs. We’re not going anywhere Quote Quote ‘We’d love to make as many shows as we can and get better with each one.’ Chiming in, Chris throws his full enthusiasm behind future seasons, praising the ‘incredible team’ and Jack’s ‘prolific contribution’ to storytelling. ‘I hope to do this as long as they’ll let us, and not only playing James Reece but also taking other characters and exploring some of their stories,’ he teases. ‘There is an audience for this type of storytelling, and it’s our honour to serve them, and we will serve them as long as Amazon lets us, and we’ve got a s**t load of ideas, so we’re not going anywhere.’ All eight episodes of The Terminal List s2 are now available to stream on Prime Video. 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