Chris Pratt says this lesson from Parks and Rec led him to sprain his ankle on Mercy: 'I wanna br...

&34;Break as much stuff as you can. It's always better.&34; Chris Pratt says this lesson from Parks and Rec led him to sprain his ankle on Mercy: 'I wanna break that' &34;Break as much stuff as you can. It's always better.&34; By Mike Miller Mike Miller Mike Miller is the executive editor on the movies team at . He previously worked as a writerreporter for PEOPLE and TMZ. EW's editorial guidelines January 21, 2026 9:00 a.m. ET Leave a Comment :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/chrisprattmercy2011626f946b53fbd0c442b88ec7ad2b2ab187f.jpg) Kali Reis and Chris Pratt in 'Mercy'.

"Break as much stuff as you can. It's always better."

Chris Pratt says this lesson from Parks and Rec led him to sprain his ankle on Mercy: 'I wanna break that'

"Break as much stuff as you can. It's always better."

By Mike Miller

Mike Miller

Mike Miller is the executive editor on the movies team at . He previously worked as a writer-reporter for PEOPLE and TMZ.

EW's editorial guidelines

January 21, 2026 9:00 a.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Kali Reis and Chris Pratt in 'Mercy'. Credit:

Justin Lubin/Amazon MGM Studios

Chris Pratt spends most of his new sci-fi thriller *Mercy *strapped to a chair — but he still managed to sprain his ankle pretty badly during production.

Last year, the *Guardians of the Galaxy *star revealed on Instagram that he had sustained the injury on the fourth day of filming. Along with a photo of his considerably swelled ankle, he wrote, "I have such a great stunt team! AND I sometimes try to get in there and do some of my own stuff. Today, daddy caught a metal post to the ankle. Should be interesting moving forward."

Asked for more details on the incident in a recent interview with *, *Pratt says he hurt himself while filming a scene that occurs early in the film, when his highly intoxicated character, Det. Chris Raven, is arrested by his colleagues in a bar.

Chris Pratt in 'Mercy'.

Justin Lubin / Amazon MGM Studios

"It's essentially almost a comedic bit sequence that happens as my character's apprehended when I'm drunk. I'm in a blackout, and I fight against a bunch of cops," he explains. "It was in that sequence where I'm being tackled against a booth at a bar, and my foot just flew up."

While that might sound like an accident, Pratt admits there's more to the story.

"I knew if I could kick my feet up, it would make it more of a violent crash," he continues. "And I kicked my feet up high enough to hit a neon sign...I wanted to try to break the sign because of my old *Parks and Rec* days, like break as much stuff as you can. It's always better."

Unfortunately, the sign wasn't a prop. "It was a piece of the bar," Pratt adds. "I was like, 'I wanna break that.' And I hit it with my foot, and it's a metal post sticking out of the wall, holding this thing up. It just hit right into that soft tissue and wrecked my ankle."

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The good news is that, afterward, Pratt spent most of the shoot in a chair. "I'm really grateful that I was just sitting down, 'cause I could not walk for at least a couple of weeks."

After his character is arrested for murdering his wife, he's sent to stand trial — but the justice system works a little differently in the near-future Los Angeles of *Mercy*. Instead of facing a jury of their peers, accused persons are strapped to a chair, brought before an AI judge (played by Rebecca Ferguson), and given 90 minutes to prove their innocence before the supercomputer determines their fate. Given the charges against him, failure to convince the judge of his innocence means immediate execution for Det. Raven.

Whether he's doing a TV comedy like *Parks and Rec *or a blockbuster action flick like *Jurassic World*, Pratt is known for his physical performances. Playing a character who spends most of the film's runtime trapped in a metal chair was a unique challenge, and part of what drew him to the role.

Chris Pratt in 'Mercy'.

Amazon MGM Studios

"This is a high-paced edge-of-your-seat thriller, and I was gonna be responsible for very little of the physical action that contributed to that," he admits. "I've never worked in a thriller genre before, but I have contributed to physicality. Whether it be flipping over tables on* Parks and Rec*, or falling on roller blades, or dance-offs, or big physical running away from dinosaurs, there's been a certain physicality with a lot of the roles that I played. So yeah, I was definitely intrigued by being just the emotional core."

While he still got to get in on some of the stunt work, he notes that with *Mercy*, "My role was to play the reactionary emotional piece to what is otherwise a very thrilling and action-packed movie."

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So, how did he find the experience?

"I loved it, man. I really loved it," he says. "Every job you do, you're learning, and you should continue to learn. And I've definitely learned a lot on this...I loved that it was a serious challenge."

See if Det. Raven can prove his innocence when *Mercy *hits theaters on Friday.**

- Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movies

Original Article on Source

Source: "EW Sci-Fi"

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Source: Sci-Fi

Published: January 21, 2026 at 04:38PM on Source: RED MAG

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