Adam Brody “Wanted” To Play Star-Lord In Guardians of the Galaxy

Seth Cohen was close to living out his comic book dreams on the silver screen. On the Aug. 2 episode of the Just for Variety podcast, Adam Brody revealed that he auditioned for the lead role of Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord, in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, which surely would’ve made his The O.C. character proud. “I wanted that one,” he admitted.

However, Brody clarified that he agreed Chris Pratt, who landed the role of Star-Lord, was a “better” fit for the job. “He is bigger, stronger, but tonally, I really dug it,” he said. Pratt went on to reprise the superhero in all of the Guardians and Avengers films. Other actors that were reportedly considered for the role include Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, James Marsden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zachary Levi, Garrett Hedlund, and Lee Pace.

Brody likely didn’t have hard feelings about Pratt landing the role, considering how they worked together before he became a Marvel frontman. Pratt joined The O.C. for its fourth and final season as Ché Cook, the goofy environmentalist who turns Summer Roberts into a full-blown activist at Brown University, and at one point believes that Seth is his soulmate.

During the podcast, Brody opened up about other major roles that he auditioned for but didn’t land, including some very unexpected films, like the 2003 Dumber and Dumber prequel Dumber and Dumber: When Harry Met Lloyd. “I’m like, ‘I don’t give a f**k. I would love to just be Lloyd Christmas,’” he said.

The actor also tried out for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s critically panned film Gigli, reading for Justin Bartha’s role of Brian. But according to Brody, the film was a bit different when he auditioned.“I remember liking the script,” he recalled. “I remember in the end, [Affleck] died in a way that it still stays with me. It’s like he’s sitting on the beach, he’s bleeding out and the sand just comes up and buries him… It was a nice image that they did not use in the movie at all.”