Jurassic World (2015)
Amid the lucrative theatrical run for Jurassic Park III, Universal execs pushed for a fourth entry. Joe Johnston, emotionally and creatively drained after his tumultuous experience directing the third, said that he’d cheerlead from the sidelines but they’d have to do it without him. He wasn’t the only one feeling drained. Lucrative or not, if the franchise’s creative talent were going to spend 16-hour days over three years on another, it required a story idea everyone believed in and was enthused to make.
In 2002, producer Steven Spielberg felt he had such an idea, which he called the best since 1993’s Jurassic Park, one he kicked himself for not using for part III. It was a mental image he’d retained since reading Crichton’s book involving a chase scene between people on motorcycles and ensuing velociraptors. He’d tried to include that scene in the last two sequels but ran out of time to include it. Spielberg concocted a new spin on that idea he liked even better. A man on a motorcycle who led a “fox hunt” with a group of trained velociraptors as part of a military operation to take out drug lords and other unsavory types. Spielberg had his production house, Amblin, develop his story, which incorporated leftover ideas from prior films and Crichton’s two novels.
Sam Neill was approached to fulfill the final option in his three-picture contract. He agreed to return but wanted the next film to be set away from the islands; he wanted to see a T-Rex in civilization, destroying Wal-Marts. Spielberg agreed; he also wanted to get out of the jungle.
For the script, after David Koepp declined to return, Spielberg decided on a fresh approach. His first hire was William Monahan, who’d impressed him with his unproduced screenplay called Tripoli. Monahan injected much comedy and colorful kid characters he compared to Willy Wonka.
The initial premise involved several dinosaur experts, perhaps including Alan Grant and/or Ian Malcolm (depending on the interest of the actors in returning), being sent to one of the islands to find that they’re multiplying quickly, escalating their threat. Something must be done to slow down their expansion to the Central and North American mainland. Desperate measures lead to the mixing of DNA of dinosaurs with humans to create hybrids strong and smart enough to take these migrating dinosaurs down.
Sam Neill pushed for Keira Knightley (who he worked with for the BBC’s “Doctor Zhivago”), to play either John Hammond’s granddaughter in a small role, provided Richard Attenborough returned. Spielberg enjoyed her in Bend It Like Beckham and concurred, so much so that he also considered her as a possibility for the lead role. Plans were to once again film in part of California and Hawaii. Consultant paleontologist for the first three Jurassic films, Jack Horner, was also returning. Stan Winston began working with Spielberg to come up with design concepts.
Spielberg felt Monahan’s draft didn’t adequately balance the humor and action. It would need revising, but Monahan was obligated to leave for work on Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. The postponement caused Sam Neill to drop out, as did Keira Knightley, who took the lead actress role in Pirates of the Caribbean. Talks began with Emmy Rossum and Jeremy Piven for important roles.
Spielberg urged Joe Johnston to accept the director’s chair. Johnston admitted he was tempted by the new story but couldn’t commit unless fans demanded it or Universal offered more money than he could refuse. Spielberg turned to Alex Proyas, but he had zero interest. Spielberg briefly considered stepping into the director’s chair again.
In 2004, John Sayles revised Monahan’s draft. Some compared Sayles’s revision as a campy take on “The Island of Doctor Moreau”. Dinosaurs make their way to the mainland and begin attacking the human populace. John Hammond concocts a scheme for new dinosaurs carrying a virus to put into their population to make them sterile, ending their existence within a generation. Hammond needs dino DNA to make it happen, sending soldier-of-fortune Nick Harris to Isla Nublar for Dennis Nedry’s missing cryo-can of dinosaur embryos, Harris gets captured by a security team for Grendel Corporation, a Swiss company that bought the island from Hammond that is also looking for genetic samples.
Grendel takes Harris to a medieval castle in the Swiss Alps run by Baron Von Drax. The castle is used as a genetics lab for crossbreeding dinosaurs with the DNA from humans (for intelligence) and dogs (for obedience) to produce hybrid dino mercenaries. The creatures are controlled using a radio-controlled box releasing chemicals in their brains that make them docile or fueled by rage. Grendel offers Harris the job of becoming the trainer and leader of the five hybrids, for which he gave nicknames based on people in Ancient Greek history and mythology (Achilles, Perseus, Orestes, Spartacus, Hector). They wear armor and carry automatic weapons before going on special forces missions, Dirty Dozen-style, to take down terrorists, kidnappers, and drug lords. Things get dangerous when the hybrids no longer want to be enslaved.
Sayles’s revisions also didn’t satisfy Spielberg, too distant from the real science and adventure of Jurassic Park. Another overhaul was necessary. After pushing the release date to the summer of 2006, things stalled out for a time, until Johnston finally came around. He decided to coordinate with consulting paleontologist Jack Horner on a new script direction, one that strove more for accuracy than fantasy with Spielberg’s premise. Horner surmised that dinosaurs, had they not gone mysteriously extinct, would have evolved eventually into a humanoid race from intelligent species like the Troodons, as found in “Jurassic World: The Game.”
Spielberg thought too much scientific explanation made for lackluster cinema, telling them to emphasize adventure, Spielberg concentrated on the fourth Indiana Jones film and Jurassic Park IV was pushed to a 2008 release. Laura Dern got the call to return. Richard Attenborough, however, retired after a stroke rendered it difficult to speak or walk. The Writers Guild strike in 2007 prolonged delays, then with the deaths of Stan Winston and Michael Crichton in 2008, Spielberg pondered the franchise dying with them.
In 2009, Johnston stirred rumors of returning by announcing a story direction for a new trilogy featuring all-new characters and locations. By 2010, the project went into limbo when Johnston bowed out to make Captain America: First Avenger.
Late in 2011, Spielberg brainstormed ideas with screenwriter Mark Protosevich, who he’d once collaborated with on a remake of Oldboy intended for Will Smith that had rights issues, to reboot the series using technological advancements in visual effects spearheaded by Avatar. Spielberg was much happier with the new direction, infusing the Protosevich ideas into his own and then, in 2012, commissioning a screenplay by the married screenwriting team of Rise of the Planet of the Apes‘s Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.
Spielberg loved Rise’s respect for the older films while entertaining a new generation, especially its balanced of adventure and science. Jaffa and Silver incorporated Spielberg’s ideas: a fully-operational park open years, a dinosaur breaks loose, an ex-military velociraptor trainer hunts the rogue dino, and visiting children in the rampaging dino’s path. Spielberg and the screenwriting duo spent a year going over story elements and honing them collaboratively. They retained the use of trained raptors to take down drug lords by the hero, called Vance. The story started in China, where dinosaur DNA was cultivated into dinosaurs, then passed around the world, with hybrid dinosaurs getting larger, louder, and with more teeth. The Diabolus Rex (aka D-Rex) hybrid was created, the most dangerous creature ever.
After Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, they announced a new Star Wars trilogy. Kathleen Kennedy left Jurassic to co-chair Lucasfilm after George Lucas stepped down. Producing partner and husband Frank Marshall took over Jurassic, vowing to make it a spiritual sequel to the first film – bright and optimistic, rather than the dark cynicism of the sequels.
Kennedy pursued Brad Bird to direct Star Wars: Episode VII. However, Bird was busy with Disney’s Tomorrowland and thought Star Wars’ strict schedule made it impossible to work on them simultaneously. Bird recommended hiring Colin Trevorrow, who he felt shared his sensibilities, to prep Episode VII for him to later step into after finishing Tomorrowland. After brief consideration, Disney decided it was too risky and handed the Star Wars reins to JJ Abrams.
Meanwhile, Marshall screened Trevorrow’s debut, Safety Not Guaranteed, noting its similarity to Bird’s style. After calling him, Marshall was impressed with Trevorrow’s intelligence and demeanor. He arranged a meeting with Spielberg to discuss what Trevorrow would do with the next Jurassic Park film. Trevorrow emphasized a return to Amblin’s trademark narratives told from children’s perspective, exploring peril despite the guardrails of safety adults build around them. It should be a story full of characters and heroic moments he would have adored when he was an eight-year-old. Spielberg and Marshall found Trevorrow in synch with what they wanted to achieve and hired him in March 2013, surprising many that a billion-dollar franchise would be entrusted to a newcomer.
Internet leaks revealed the story concerned genetically modified dinosaurs, sparking negative buzz from fans. Trevorrow employed damage control, assuring fans that all genetic elements jibed with Crichton’s novels. Trevorrow expressed dismay that audiences might experience story surprises reading on their smartphones rather than in real-time in theaters. He impulsively began changing what that leaked; the Diabolus Rex became the Indominus Rex. He gave up when leaks continues, taking the new tactic of imploring the public not to ruin their experience pursuing spoilers ahead of release.
While Spielberg was enthused about the Jaffa/Silver script, Trevorrow doubted he could successfully execute some of its most elaborate story elements. A bad Jurassic Park film using someone else’s ideas seemed a poor career move. Spielberg assured Trevorrow he had carte blanche to make it his own, so they postponed the release date another year for Trevorrow to bring a friend and writing partner Derek Connolly on board to revise it to fit more in line with his style. Trevorrow wanted Jurassic World to be an original film rather than a straight sequel. Spielberg insisted on only three things needed to remain from the Silver/Jaffa script: a park open to the public, a raptor trainer, and a dinosaur breaking free to threaten the park. Trevorrow observed how human interaction with technology radically changed since Jurassic Park. What seemed miraculous in 1993 was commonplace in 2015. Humans would similarly take resurrected dinosaurs as much for granted as they do CG effects.
To make sure what he wanted was plausible, Trevorrow consulted Universal’s theme parks on how they operate, including the control room, though they spiced it up greatly with eye candy. The documentary about SeaWorld, Blackfish, also influenced his outlook on dinosaurs bred in captivity, isolation, and the danger that lack of socialization with its own kind can incur. His themes explore the corporatization of our childhoods, particularly how anything we love becomes ruined by the need for continued profits. The new direction became self-aware and metatextual, acknowledging its strengths and weaknesses within its own story.
After three months, they completed their script with its new title of Jurassic World. The new concept fulfilled John Hammond’s dream of a thriving dino park on Isla Nublar. The American nephews of Claire Dearing replaced the Chinese sons of a female paleontologist. Claire was an expansion of a smaller, more antagonistic character in the Jaffa/Silver script called Whitney, who Trevorrow and Connolly felt had the most room for growth. She is an uptight corporate type who begins by viewing dinosaurs as just a commodity; her character later becomes the heroine, developing awe, fear, and respect for them. Trevorrow wanted Claire to have a defined look that made her stand out as much as John Hammond, Ian Malcolm, and Alan Grant.
Navy vet Owen Grady, renamed from Vance in the Jaffa/Silver script, is the facility’s behavioral researcher/talent trainer. Owen whispers to velociraptors, which proves serendipitous when the Indominus Rex cuts loose, threatening everyone within the theme park. Grady trains raptors to be compliant, but Trevorrow preferred to keep their instinct to kill humans once freed. Unlike the Sayles script, which had a protagonist working with a dino military outfit, Trevorrow felt that was something a bad guy would do, so he opted to split the Nick Harris character’s character traits into the hero and one of the villains, Vic Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio).
New to the island are siblings Gray and Zach, who are visiting their Aunt Claire, operations manager at “Jurassic World”, a tourist resort built over John Hammond’s “Jurassic Park” on Isla Nublar funded by mega-billionaire Simon Masrani. When public interest dips, Masrani creates bigger, nastier dinosaurs to keep turnstiles spinning. Masrani learned from InGen’s mistakes, employing a state-of-the-art security system and military-trained specialists on the island. TheMasrani Global Corporation (renamed from Patel in earlier scripts), invent new dinosaur hybrids to increase traffic. Their latest creation is the Indominus Rex (in Latin, “untameable king”), the most deadly animal that has ever existed on Earth.
Bryce Dallas Howard, suggested by the casting director, was the first signed, playing Claire Dearing. Howard, who had taken several years off to start a family, already had a working relationship with Spielberg, who considered her a member of the Amblin family. The characterization of Claire drew criticism upon release. Joss Whedon tweeted that Claire smacked of “70s-era sexism. Trevorrow said Whedon was basing his assessment on a clip early in the film before her character changes. Trevorrow based the Owen/Claire relationship on the Jack Colton/Joan Wilder relationship in Romancing the Stone, the obtuse alpha male and the confident woman who’s masking her vulnerability, but later becomes the action hero. Howard wanted her character to wear boots but was told they didn’t fit her character. Howard did ankle-strengthening exercises to run around in high heels.
For Owen, Trevorrow wanted someone audiences would find relatable – someone to share a sixpack of beers with. Josh Brolin was the natural pick but proved too pricey for Universal given his recent run of box office failures. He remained a backup choice if they could find no suitable substitute at a lesser price. John Krasinski was briefly considered before turning to Chris Pratt on the heels of Guardians of the Galaxy. Pratt consulted animal trainers, including Randy Miller, who trained dangerous animals for movies at his ranch in Big Bear, CA, called, “Predators in Action”.
David Oyelowo was sought as Owen’s best friend but the role fell to Omar Sy. Garrett Hedlund was also rumored to play a role. B.D. Wong as Dr. Henry Wu is the only returning character from the prior Jurassic Park films. Jake Johnson was a friend of Trevorrow and star of Safety Not Guaranteed and took a supporting comic relief role as Lowery, part of the control room staff, replacing the originally intended Jason Schwartzman.
The shoot began in Hawaii before moving to New Orleans’ Big Easy Studios in NASA Center. An abandoned, hurricane-damaged Six Flags that previously housed other movie productions was used as the Jurassic World environment.
Because post-production ran late, there were no early screenings. A cast and crew showing at Skywalker Ranch went over well, with Trevorrow ordering only one scene removal and trimming of several others for pacing before approving for 3D conversion.
Michael Giacchino blended the old John Williams score with his new take, similar to how he blended the Planet of the Apes score with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Trevorrow and Connolly appealed to the WGA ruling that Jaffa and Silver share screenwriting credit because they felt their script was completely different.
Without competition in its debut week, Jurassic World broke the record as the most successful global box office opener with a half-billion dollars in its opening weekend on its $150 million budget, ultimately becoming the third highest-grossing film of all time worldwide (after Avatar and Titanic, thought The Force Awakens took its spot later in the year)
Trevorrow knew he wouldn’t make another; he had many other stories to tell and the Jurassic Park films take too much time to make. He did want to retain creative input for sequels but thought future entries should follow the example of the Mission: Impossible films by bringing in new voices and fresh approaches for each entry
Jurassic World benefits from its distance from the original and only had to be more enjoyable than the prior lackluster sequels to be deemed successful. Trevorrow and the screenwriters wisely avoid piggybacking on the sequels, ignoring that The Lost World already featured an attempt at a new Jurassic Park in the US that proved disastrous. Parents wouldn’t send kids to a park full of genetically jacked-up dinosaurs after proving they couldn’t handle regular dinosaurs twice.
It plays like fan fiction blended with satire whereby its plot mirrors the production itself. Like the theme park operators, the filmmakers want bigger, nastier dinosaurs to pull in crowds. It’s a toothier hybrid of Jurassic Park, with Aliens, Predator, Jaws, Indiana Jones, and other popular properties. Also like the Indominus Rex, Jurassic World becomes a goliath that can’t be tamed by the inexperienced. If Spielberg failed with The Lost World, what chance does Trevorrow have? The “wow factor” of Jurassic Park can’t be recreated, while the fear factor falters from cardboard characters and absurd situations. The only angle left for entertainment is to poke fun at its inanity.
The performances aren’t a strong suit but expected in a film with comic-book dialogue, campy laughs, and semi-spoofy frights. The dinosaurs are the stars, so more time is spent making them believable at the expense of characters we can identify with.
It’s easy to forgive Jurassic World‘s flaws because it’s a fun, head-first dive into popcorn cinema, It benefits from overriding nostalgia, and it’s better than the prior sequels. Had those follow-ups been good or had never existed, many praising this continuation would be less than enchanted. Jurassic Park was meal served by the finest chefs in the business, Jurassic World delivers plenty of fast food for those craving a sloppy, greasy, brain-belch-inducing experience — it’s the Brontosaurus Burger of cinema. Tasty, but maybe not so good for you.
Qwipster’s rating: B-
MPAA Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril
Running Time: 124 min.
Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, BD Wong, Judy Greer, Lauren Lapkus
Small role: Jimmy Fallon, Colin Trevorrow, Brad Bird (voice), Jimmy Buffett
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Screenplay: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly