Did you know an Earth, Wind & Fire song inspired an iconic scene in the film?
Spielberg’s groundbreaking techno-thriller, based upon the 1990 Michael Crichton novel of the same name, spawned a revolutionary franchise and raked in nearly $1 billion during the film’s original theatrical run. Jurassic Park was, for a time, the highest grossing film in history—only to be usurped by James Cameron’s Titanic in 1997. Alongside 3 Academy Awards, the film is lauded as a cinematic masterpiece that redefined industry standards for action and thriller flicks in perpetuity, and the franchise continues to this day with new films, games, and even rides. dinosaur ride
Though it’s difficult to imagine anyone other than Richard Attenborough so perfectly encapsulating the overzealous industrialist, actors like Marlon Brando and Clint Eastwood were also considered. The role was even offered to Bond actor Sean Connery, though he’d later decline the opportunity to star in the widely derided crime thriller Rising Sun.
Crichton’s manuscript was so impressive that studios were bidding on the rights before it even hit shelves. Though big names like Tim Burton, Richard Donner, and Joe Dante were keen on snagging the rights, it would eventually be sold to Spielberg and Universal Studios for a cool $1.5 million.
Renowned paleontologists Jack Horner and Robert T. Baker consulted with production to ensure the dinosaurs both acted and appeared just as they would in the Late Cretaceous period. Baker was so impressed by the crew’s work he told Popular Mechanics in 2012 they were “better morphologists than most tenured professors,” quite the testament to production’s meticulous devotion to creating a hyper-realistic universe.
Recognizable to even those unfamiliar with the franchise, one of the film's early scenes show a cup of water rippling and vibrating as the indomitable Tyrannosaurus rex stomps closer and closer to the terrified park goers cowering in their respective Jeeps. Spielberg conceived the idea for the shot while jamming out to Earth, Wind, & Fire in his car and noticed the windows vibrating as the song’s bass swelled.
At various points in production the gargantuan animatronic would unexpectedly turn itself on, startling the cast and crew. Eventually, producers realized the malfunctions were due to the heavy rainfall the model was exposed to throughout filming. The T. rex posed such a hazard that production held safety meetings solely dedicated to precautionary measures surrounding its use.
To create the dino’s deafening bellow, sound designers warped and combined sounds from an elephant calf, a tiger, and an alligator. Oddly enough, paleontologists have posited real T. rex’s didn’t roar at all and probably made chirps and warbles not dissimilar to today’s ostriches and rheas.
Though the film has a run time of more than 2 hours, the park’s dinosaurs are only on screen for a mere 15 minutes. This style of allusion to the dinosaurs' presence without actually showing them on screen has been compared to Spielberg’s approach to the 1975 classic Jaws, wherein the colossal great white appears on screen for just 4 minutes.
Though the part of the acclaimed paleobotanist was eventually given to Laura Dern, House of Cards star Wright was a considerable frontrunner for the role in pre-production. Coincidentally, Wright's son with actor Sean Penn, Hopper, would later star in the psychological thriller Let Me Go the Right Way directed by Spielberg’s daughter, Destry Allyn Spielberg.
In the original script, Goldblum’s character Dr. Ian Malcolm flees in terror from the imposing T-rex, leaving the petrified Lex and Tim Murphy to fend for themselves. Goldblum suggested Spielberg change the scene to show Malcolm distracting the gargantuan beast from the terrified kids using a flare to make for a more exhilarating, heroic moment.
In 1995, when the film first aired on NBC, it amassed an audience of over 65 million viewers, making it the most watched televised movie up to that point.
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