Although Chris Pratt is out promoting his role in The LEGO Movie, his most anticipated project of the year is Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, in which he plays Star-Lord. While speaking with MTV, the Parks and Recreation actor discussed the casting process of the film, recalling he didn't initially think he had a chance at the role.

"I remember originally they were like, 'Hey, what do you think about this Guardians of the Galaxy idea?' I was like, 'I don't know. I feel fat. I don't want to go embarrass myself and have them say "no" to me,'" Pratt told MTV. "Then I would go online and see this list. They were like 'The Dream List,' and it would be 25 actors, all of whom have beaten me out for roles. I wasn't even on the list," Pratt said. "I was like, 'No way. That's a bad idea.' I was circling around it for a long time, and they kept testing people and testing people, and no one was right for it."

Of course, Pratt went on to get cast as the film's lead (late in the process, he recalled thinking to himself, "Oh, I got this. This is mine. This is mine now."). However, the best part of the interview by far is when Pratt describes director James Gunn's approach to the movie as a whole, in that it's a superhero film that doesn't take itself too seriously.

"James said it recently -- where sometimes comic book movies can go wrong is they take themselves too seriously, and it's material that shouldn't be taken seriously because it's really fun material. We do have a really fun moment when the team's coming together and it's The Shot, where the team's walking in slow motion and the music's playing," Pratt said. "This is a little different than other comic book movies because we're not superheroes necessarily. It's an epic space opera type of movie, but it's not like there's an origin and I can shoot sharks out of my eyes. We're misfits and our strength is we work as a team."

Directed by James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy hits theaters Aug. 1.