More than 25 years after the original film debuted, the Jurassic Park franchise continues
to thrill fans around the world.
Here's a look back at the original trilogy, and a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes information
that not even hardcore fans know about the making of these blockbuster films.
Tracking the inspiration for Jurassic Park leads to Spielberg's love of dinosaurs as
a child.
He recalled to Entertainment Weekly,
"I was more interested in the dinosaurs in King Kong than I was in King Kong himself.
I thought the T. rex was one of the most awesome dinosaurs of the fossil record!"
In the late 1980s, Spielberg met author and screenwriter Michael Crichton, a Harvard Medical
School graduate whose novels, such as The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, and Congo,
among others, often hinge on problems of a scientific nature.
As the two developed a script based on Crichton's time as a medical resident, a project that
would later become the TV series ER, Crichton mentioned another idea of his: a novel about
dinosaurs brought to life through discovered samples of DNA.
Considering the existence of a real-life gene-editing technology called CRISPR that was later unveiled
in 2012, the concept Crichton was talking about was certainly ahead of its time.
The premise instantly piqued Spielberg's interest, and before Crichton had even finished the
novel, Universal Studios paid the author $2 million for the film rights and a first draft
of the screenplay.
Screenwriter David Koepp, whose credits include Death Becomes Her, Mission: Impossible, and
Spider-Man later came on board.
He streamlined the science and, with Spielberg, came up with the animated Mr. DNA to explain
how the fictional theme park spawned dinosaurs in a lab.
"A DNA strand like me is a blueprint for building a living thing."
In Jurassic Park, wealthy businessman John Hammond invites paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant,
played by Sam Neill, paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler, played by Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum's
mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm to the fictional island of Isla Nublar, off Costa Rica, to
tour his live-dinosaur theme park and certify that it's safe for the public.
Spielberg offered Harrison Ford the role of Grant, but Ford turned it down, paving the
way for Neill, who, according to an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2013, quote,
"hadn't read the book, knew nothing about it, hadn't heard anything about it."
Laura Dern said yes in part because Nicolas Cage, who had just wrapped Wild at Heart with
her, encouraged her to do it.
Jim Carrey gave a "terrific" audition for the ever-quotable Dr. Malcolm, according to
casting director Janet Hirshenson, but Jeff Goldblum ended up winning out over him.
As for Hammond, Crichton initially liked Sean Connery, whom Crichton directed in 1978'sThe
Great Train Robbery, based on his 1975 novel.
However, Spielberg liked Attenborough's ambivalence.
The director said in an interview with Empire,
"I was much more interested in portraying Hammond as a cross between Walt Disney and
Ross Perot.
Attenborough sort of keeps you off balance, second-guessing what his motives are."
Hawaii, specifically the gorgeous island of Kauai, hosted part of the production of the
first Jurassic Park.
Locations that were used include Manawaiopuna Falls, where the helicopter lands with Hammond
and his guests, and the Puu Ka Ele Reservoir, where the actors gaped at roaming Brachiosaurus
that the special effects team added later.
In the film, a tropical storm strikes the island, ramping up the suspense as the power
fails.
In real life, the production faced Hurricane Iniki, which made landfall at Kauai in September
1992 with winds of over 140 mph.
Spielberg turned on the hotel TV early one morning to see the weather report, complete
with, quote, "the icon of a cyclonic hurricane moving directly towards us.
It was like a movie."
The cast and crew huddled in a hotel ballroom for safety, although some shot footage of
the approaching storm ended up in the final film.
As Wayne Knight recalled to The AV Club,
"[Producer] Kathleen Kennedy got a lot of people off the island and onto army transports
right before the hurricane hit, but it exfoliated the entire island.
It was really bad."
He's not wrong, more than 1,400 houses were destroyed when the hurricane struck land,
and six people died.
Bringing Jurassic Park's dinosaurs to life took a multifaceted approach that netted the
film three Academy Awards for its visual effects, sound, and sound effects editing.
Legendary creature designer and special effects creator Stan Winston, known for his work on
Aliens, Terminator 2, and many other projects, created large-form models of dinosaurs, including
one of the Tyrannosaurus rex that was nearly 20 feet tall.
Jeff Goldblum recalled to Entertainment Weekly,
"I used to be enthralled with dinosaurs like a lot of kids.
So cut to me in Hawaii coming on the set and seeing that thing already fully there and
the puppeteers, one working the eyes, one doing the breathing.
For all the world, it was a live dinosaur sitting there.
Amazing."
Stop-motion artist Phil Tippett, known for his work on RoboCop, animated miniatures of
Winston's designs for some of the action sequences; he even sent the animators to mime classes
to help make the dinosaurs' movements more fluid.
The production also used computer-generated dinosaurs, notably during the Gallimimus stampede.
When Spielberg asked Tippet how he felt after seeing the CG footage of the stampede, Tippett
recalled saying,
"'I think I'm extinct.'
He said, 'That's a great line.
I'm putting that in the movie.'"
"So what do you think?"
"We're out of a job."
"Don't you mean 'extinct?'"
As for the dinosaurs' snorts, roars, and other sounds, sound designer Gary Rydstrom said
he wanted to keep the creature effects sounding organic, so he used noises from real animals,
about 20 or 30 animal sounds alone for the raptors, including a combination of walrus
and dolphin for the main "attack scream."
One reason for Jurassic Park's enduring appeal is the cast's genuine awe, even when they
weren't sure how the final footage would look.
Dern remembered how she and Neill couldn't help but hug the lifelike triceratops puppet.
She recalled to Entertainment Weekly,
"We were both freaking out.
And like Sam does in the movie, we did lay ourselves over the belly and feel the belly
moving in and out."
She also added that she "forced" the puppeteers to let her see how the high-tech illusion
worked.
When Spielberg asked Neill to imagine how he'd feel upon seeing grazing dinosaurs, the
actor said he thought he'd faint.
He told Entertainment Weekly, quote, "That's why my knees go in the shot."
Yet for all its grand scale, Spielberg saw the film as more than a monster mash.
He told Empire,
"This film is more like Ten Little Indians than it is Godzilla attacking Tokyo...There's
a presumption in this genre that the more invasive the people in an environment are,
the more ill-equipped they are to survive it, and the more the audience feels they deserve
what's coming."
Certainly Crichton, who wrote and directed 1973's Westworld about another theme park
gone awry, liked to explore technology's perils.
But the film also can be read as a metaphor for reproductive fears and patriarchal control,
thanks to geneticist Dr. Henry Wu asserting that the park's animals are "engineered" to
be female.
"How do you know they're all female?
Does somebody go out in the park and pull up the dinosaur's skirts?"
"We control their chromosomes.
Because of Jurassic Park's popularity, Spielberg was happy to sign on for a sequel.
For 1997's The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the director and returning screenwriter Koepp
adapted only pieces of Crichton's 1995 novel The Lost World, which itself took its title
from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 dinosaur tale.
The story this time around involved Hammond hiring Dr. Malcolm to join an expedition of
dinosaur advocates at a second island, Isla Sorna, where his company had conducted its
research in secret.
A storm has left the island's creatures running wild, something people discover after a vacationing
family stops there for a picnic and some of the local wildlife eyeballs their daughter
as a snack.
Malcolm agrees to go along after learning that his paleontologist girlfriend, Sarah
Harding, is already there, along with a cadre of dinosaur hunters including Pete Postlethwaite's
Roland Tembo.
The sequel weaves in homages to classic films and monster movies, including the big-game
plot of 1962's Hatari and 1961's Gorgo, in which a prehistoric mother wrecks London to
retrieve her baby, much like the mama T. rex during the Lost World climax rampages through
San Diego in pursuit of her child.
Planning The Lost World: Jurassic Park took at least two years, including designing the
action set pieces and building the creatures.
Although the film used more CGI, Stan Winston returned to develop the animatronics.
To map out the logistics of the complex action sequences, the crew used almost 1,500 storyboards.
Spielberg also trusted cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, who won an Academy Award for his
work on Spielberg's Oscar-winning 1993 film Schindler's List, to create a darker look
for this film compared to the original.
As Kaminski has been quoted as saying,
"Jurassic Park was very much like an amusement park ride.
The images were brighter, more colorful and more friendly.
This film is much more moody and violent."
Kaminski also noted that he found inspiration for The Lost World in films such as 1982's
Blade Runner, 1979's Alien, 1954's Godzilla, and 1933's King Kong.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park earned about $618 million worldwide on an estimated budget
of $73 million, a box office hit if a mixed bag for critics, who found the characterization
lacking and the story beats perfunctory.
Looking back on his career in 2016, Spielberg told the New York Times that The Lost World
was an example of his enthusiasm getting the better of him.
He explained,
"My sequels aren't as good as my originals because I go onto every sequel I've made and
I'm too confident.
This movie made a ka-zillion dollars, which justifies the sequel, so I come in like it's
going to be a slam dunk and I wind up making an inferior movie to the one before.
I'm talking about The Lost World and Jurassic Park."
For 2001's Jurassic Park III, Spielberg remained as an executive producer but handed directing
duties to Joe Johnston.
He'd worked with Spielberg as a visual effects artist on Raiders of the Lost Ark before directing
1989's Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, 1991's The Rocketeer, and 1995's Jumanji.
Johnston had been eager to work on a sequel ever since Jurassic Park took off.
Sam Neill liked Johnston's enthusiasm and, quote, "sheer sense of mischief."
The actor told the BBC he was excited to return to the franchise, saying,
"I wasn't quite happy with what I'd done with the character in the first film.
I was so over-awed by Spielberg; I think I didn't quite look after my guy as well as
I might have."
Getting Alan back to the island proved problematic at first, though.
The story went through several drafts, including one with teenagers stranded on Isla Sorna,
the island from The Lost World, that Johnston said, quote, "read like a bad episode of Friends."
"Jurassic Park, could happen!"
The filmmakers also scrapped another version that had been planned and storyboarded, with
$18 million already spent, about five weeks before filming began.
Koepp suggested keeping the story simple, and the script, credited to Peter Buchman,
Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor, ultimately had an estranged couple, played by William
H. Macy and Téa Leoni, hiring Alan to help rescue their son, who'd become stranded on
Isla Sorna after parasailing nearby.
Even with an estimated budget of $93 million, Jurassic Park III had a rough start because
of its unfinished script.
Johnson later told Entertainment Weekly,
"We didn't have an ending that we liked the first time we were there."
Leoni agreed, and went even further with her assessment, saying:
"We just had the ending missing?
Joe is being graceful.
We started in Hawaii with no ending, the middle a little up in the air, and the beginning,
uh, pretty solid."
"Alan.
Alan!"
The constant revisions proved stressful, with Macy telling TV Guide,
"The script has been evolving and being rewritten as we go, and what you want to say is, 'Who
launched a $100 million ship without a rudder, and who's getting fired for this?'"
"It's a bad idea!"
Johnston later chalked up Macy's comments to being interviewed on a bad day, noting
that Macy had otherwise been a "trouper" who, quote, "never refused to do anything."
Regardless, the director acknowledged in Starlog magazine that the 16 or so weeks of shooting
were "grueling," with the actors being, quote, "never comfortable.
They were always wet.
They were always in mud.
They were hanging in trees.
They were underwater.
They were running, falling, getting stepped on, and getting trapped in places."
For one sequence in which the crew tumbled the cast around in what would be the fuselage
of a crashed plane, Johnston said,
"I don't know how the actors got out without broken arms and amputations."
Laura Dern also returned to Jurassic Park III as Ellie Sattler, but with her character
being married and mom to a young son, she missed out on the stunt work.
Ellie was still close friends with Alan, though, and provided a helping hand from afar in the
last act.
According to Johnston, all of her material was shot over the course of a single day.
Just as with the two films, the special effects crew didn't disappoint, with roughly 400 shots
involving CGI, some of those adding upper bodies to the animatronic feet of Winston's
designs.
The artists were determined to show dinosaurs that audiences hadn't seen before, such as
ankylosaurs, Pteranodons in a wrecked aviary, and the Spinosaurus.
That last one was included on the suggestion of paleontologist and consultant Jack Horner,
who described the creature as, quote, "a massive carnivore with the snout of a crocodile, a
back fin resembling that of a Dimetrodon, and the ferociousness of the Tyrannosaurus."
Upon its release, the film earned about $365 million worldwide, along with the high of
a BMI Film Music Award for composers Don Davis and John Williams and the low of a Razzie
Award nomination for "Worst Remake or Sequel."
Regardless, when Macy looked back on the whole experience in 2018, he called it "beyond thrilling,"
in spite of harrowing moments like being in a harness chained to a crane about 35 feet
in the air.
As he put it,
"I bested the Spinosaurus, and not many people can say they've done that."
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