15 Things You Never Knew About The Jurassic Park Films

After all these years, Jurassic Park is still one of the scariest adventures in movie history.

The human fascination for dinosaurs is practically universal. As science fiction writer Seth Dickinson explains, these creatures are “the first sense we get that Earth is really, really old, that there were all these things that happened in deep history that we’ll never fully understand.” On the other hand, for author Genevieve Valentine, dinosaurs interest us because they are creatures who ended up meeting a tragic end. Valentine told Wired, “If a dinosaur exists there’s the inherent tragedy of knowing that either we are somewhere we shouldn’t be or it is somewhere it shouldn’t be.”

Well, regardless of why you are curious about dinosaurs, no one can deny that the ‘Jurassic Park’ film franchise has been a big box office hit from the beginning. And here are some behind-the-scenes secrets that you may want to know about:

15 - Dr. Alan Grant Was Based On A Real Paleontologist Who Consulted On The Film

While speaking with The Huffington Post, Dr. Horner revealed, “My job was really just to sit next to Steven [Spielberg] and answer questions for him.” It also just so happens that he is also working on a hybrid dinosaur, just like in the film. He confirmed, “We’ve got an actual project on the way to do this sort of thing.”

14 - In Part, Laura Dern Agreed To Do The Film Because Nicolas Cage Convinced Her

Dern recalled, “I said to him, ‘Nic, they want to put me on the phone with Steven Spielberg, but they want to talk to me about a dinosaur movie…’ And he was like, ‘You are doing a dinosaur movie! No one can ever say no to a dinosaur movie!’ She later added, “So he was such an influence on me.”

13 - Jim Carrey Auditioned For Jeff Goldblum’s Role

Casting director Janet Hirshenson explained, “I read the book and I thought of Jeff Goldblum right away. There were several other people we taped for the part, though. Jim Carrey had come in and he was terrific, too, but I think pretty quickly we all loved the idea of Jeff.”

12 - Sam Neill Landed The Role Of Dr. Alan Grant Without Having Read The Book

Neill revealed, “So I went to Canada and two days later, I had the part. And three or four weeks after that we started shooting in Hawaii. So it all happened real quick. I hadn’t read the book, knew nothing about it, hadn’t heard anything about it, and in a matter of weeks I’m working with Spielberg.”

11 - Ariana Richards Landed The Role Of Lex After Her Screams Woke Up Steven Spielberg’s Wife And Sent Her Running

Richards recalled, “I was called into a casting office, and they just wanted me to scream. I heard later on that Steven had watched a few girls on tape that day, and I was the only one who ended up waking his sleeping wife off the couch.” She also ran through the hallway to check on her kids.

10 - The Raptor Sounds Were Developed Using A Combination Of Different Animals, Including A Walrus And A Male Dolphin

Sound designer Gary Rydstrom explained, “The raptor is probably made up of bits and pieces of 20 or 30 ­different animals, to make a vocabulary.” He later added, “But the main attack scream is a combination of a ­walrus, for the low ­frequency, and then the higher-frequency range was a boy dolphin pining for a female.”

9 - In The Famous Kitchen Scene, The Raptors Were Supposed To Wave Forked Tongues Until Dr. Horner Objected

Dr. Horner recalled, “They were going to have raptors coming in there waving their forked tongues around. We know they didn’t have forked tongues, so I took that out. Instead, they snort and fog up the window.” He also pointed out, “We’ve taken them from being very reptilian to being warm-blooded.”

8 - While Most Dinos Were Animatronic, The Raptors Were Real People

Dr. Horner revealed, “The raptors, rather than being animatronic, are people.” He further explained, “They’re actors that are moving around, and then they lay the actual image of the Velociraptors over the top of these people, so there actually are people for the actors to act against.” We’re pretty sure these people studied closely how raptors moved too.

7 - While Shooting Scenes With Dinosaurs, Actors Were Actually Looking At A Simple Paper With A Marked X

Dern recalled, “‘There’s a piece of paper up there in the tree and it has an X on it. Just stare at that. That’s a brachiosaurus.’ And we were all like, ‘Okay… is there still going to be an X when they see the movie, or are you going to put something else in?’”

6 - The Movie’s Last Day Of Filming In Hawaii Was Disrupted By A Hurricane

Spielberg recalled, “I turned on the TV. There was an animation of the Hawaiian island chain. The island we were on, Kauai, was outlined in red and there was a big arrow pointing to it, and then there was the icon of a cyclonic hurricane moving directly towards us. It was like a movie.”

5 - Feathers Were Purposely Left Off The Dinosaurs To Make Them Look Scarier

Dr. Horner explained the decision to go with this inaccuracy saying, “We didn’t make them colorful like they are, and we didn’t make them feathery because they’re scarier when they’re not.” He also remarked, “Just keep in mind that it’s a fictional film and not a documentary. So it is what it is.”

4 - A Hydraulic-Powered T. Rex Would Malfunction In The Rain, Scaring Everyone On Set

Producer Kathleen Kennedy recalled, “The T. Rex went into the heebie-jeebies sometimes. Scared the crap out of us. We’d be, like, eating lunch, and all of a sudden, a T. Rex would come alive. At first, we didn’t know what was happening, and then we realized it was the rain. You’d hear people start screaming.”

3 - While Making Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, J.A. Bayona Would Scare The Actors By Playing Dinosaur Roars

Chris Pratt told Slash Film, “J.A. uses that a lot and he uses it for jump scares. He has this whole playlist that’s always wired in, including a T-Rex roaring. He added, “He loves to manipulate us in that way, which is really helpful as an actor. He’ll scare us out of nowhere or do something unexpected.”

2 - The Dinosaur Supervisor Insisted That Animators On The Film Take Six Weeks Of Mime Classes

The classes helped them understand how a dinosaur moves. Tippett explained, “It’s very helpful physically. When you act it out, you internalize it. You can feel it a different way.” Spielberg also remarked, “Phil gave all the dinosaurs personalities and real characteristics based on his experience with the animal kingdom and the natural world.”

1 - There Were A Lot Of Directors Interested Originally, But Spielberg Won Thanks To His Friendship With Michael Crichton (The Original Author)

The film is based on a book written by Michael Crichton and Entertainment Weekly reported, “According to Spielberg, other interested directors may have included ­Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon) and James Cameron (Avatar). Universal won the bidding war, thanks in large part to Spielberg’s relationship with Crichton.” Sadly, Crichton passed away in 2008 due to cancer.

Source: www.thethings.com/