After having broadcast the entire saga Harry Potter and the trilogy The Lord of the Rings, the TF1 channel is preparing, from this evening, to amaze us once again, with one of the most emblematic sagas of Pop Culture: Jurassic Park. The opportunity for us to come back to eight details and anecdotes that you may have missed.
1 / Avant Jurassic Park…
Before becoming one of Steven Spielberg’s best films, and one of the biggest successes in the history of the world box office, Jurassic Park was a book by Michael Chrichton. Writer, screenwriter and director, Michael Chrichton had already written a story, taking place in an amusement park: the film Mondwest (Westworld, in English), which he himself directed, and which was subsequently adapted in series by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy for HBO. Moreover, Professor Alan Grant, interpreted by Sam Neill in Jurassic Park, also seems to be in trouble with technology (computers, cars, helicopters, electrical barriers). Like a subtle nod to the film Mondwest the Michael Chrichton.
2 / A shark at Jurassic Park
Steven Spielberg is a great geek, and he is a master in the art of the easter-egg. It is enough, to be convinced, to review his latest film to date, Ready Player One, or to look at the allusions to Star Wars in the saga Indiana Jones. More the director does not just pay homage to his models and his friends, and often pays homage to his own cinema. This was particularly the case in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, with its unsubtle tribute to Meetings of the third type. In Jurassic Park, it is to another great Spielberg film that the director of ET, the extra-terrestrial refers to : Jaws. Indeed, the unbearable park security manager Dennis looks at the 1975 masterpiece on his computer. A little taste of what awaits Dennis, no doubt …
3 / Directors other than Spielberg have been considered
If today we cannot imagine another director directing the first Jurassic Park, Spielberg almost did not sign the film. Indeed, although it was the first choice of Michael Chrichton, who had negotiated the right to choose the director, the screenwriter had met other big names in cinema. Among them, James Cameron (Terminator, Aliens), Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Batman), Joe Dante (The Gremlins). For several reasons, Chrichton’s choice fell on Spielberg. One can imagine that the director’s passion for dinosaurs (he had already co-produced with George Lucas, in 1988, The Little Dinosaur Don Bluth) made him the most obvious choice. But we can also suspect that Jurassic Park was a work cut to be adapted by Spielberg: at the start, Michael Crichton had the ambition to write a novel where the protagonists would be children, before being advised to change the formula for a more adult universe. However, children have their importance in the film: they are the ones who allow the character of Alan Grant to evolve.
4 / The importance of costumes
We could get lost for a long time in exegesis of Jurassic Park, but we would like to come back to the costumes of the film. And more particularly on those of two characters: John Hammond and Professor Ian Malcolm. The first is dressed in white, the second dressed in black. These opposite costumes emphasize that, if there is antagonism, it is above all between these two characters. Between the optimist who spends without counting, and the author of the theory of Chaos. Alan Grant, whose clothes are more colorful, will have to choose between the Hammond camp and that of Malcolm.
5 / Jurassic Park shock
It would be wrong to underestimate the impact that had Jurassic Park. Not only on the public (for that, the figures speak for themselves), but rather on the great directors of our time. Because what Steven Spielberg did in 1993 is nothing less than revolutionizing the creation of special effects, and with them, the very concept of blockbusters. It is thanks to this incredible technological breakthrough (thanks to the ILM teams!) That directors George Lucas, Peter Jackson and James Cameron understood that they had the means to achieve their dreams. : respectively the prelogy Star Wars, the trilogy The Lord of the Rings and the film Avatar.
6 / Harrison Ford almost interpreted Alan Grant
If Steven Spielberg had from the start envisaged Sam Neil for the role of Professor Alan Grant, the latter had initially declined the invitation, due to a busy schedule. The director then asked Harrison Ford, the star of the saga Indiana Jones, if he wanted to play the role, but the role was clearly refused. To be completely frank, we would have been skeptical about this cast, insofar as Professor Alan Grant, with his hat, already recalls the figure ofIndiana Jones… However, Ford could have been the star of three of the greatest cinematic sagas of all time: Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park. Spielberg had also asked Richard Dreyfuss, whom he had directed in Jaws, but the latter asked for too much money, and Spielberg had to refuse, production already costing enough.
7 / L’humour by Steven Spielberg
Although it addresses serious themes (genetic manipulation, scientific ethics), Jurassic Park is actually a humorous film. Beyond the rehearsal comic (“I spent without counting“) or the ridiculously unsympathetic character of Dennis, some jokes go almost unnoticed. For example, at the end of the film, the mud hides part of the letters of JURASSIC PARK, and we can read “UR ASS PARK” (“your ass park“). Our colleagues from Allocine amuse themselves by thinking that this joke reminds Professor Grant of what he saved.
8 / The paleontologist who inspired the character of Alan Grant
Many already know, but the character ofAlan Grant was inspired by the famous paleontologist Jack Horner, who also acted as an adviser, in order to make the dinosaurs of the film as realistic as possible.. So yes, scientists have subsequently made many discoveries: such a dinosaur is supposed to be covered with feathers, another is not supposed to be as big, or not to have a collar. We know, we know. However, let’s acknowledge several things from Jack Horner. First of all, many were interested in Paleontology thanks to its participation in Jurassic Park. Then, as journalist Antoine Lacroix, of the magazine reminded us Dinosaurs, Prehistory & Fossils, which we interviewed on the occasion of the film’s release Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom, the paleontologist was the first to impose in Pop Culture a realistic and modern vision of dinosaurs, from their maintenance to their gait. Jack Horner’s mission was more about making dinosaurs look like animals, not just monsters.
If you want to know more about this masterpiece of the Seventh Art, we strongly recommend that you read the special issue of our colleagues from Rockyrama, dedicated to Jurassic Park. Not content with supporting a wonderful magazine, you will have an exciting time reading!
