Jurassic Park is undoubtedly one of Steven Spielberg's best movies, and has also influenced countless projects that followed after going from stop motion to CGI. The movie was a wild success that kickstarted a franchise that's still going on with Jurassic World Rebirth (which is streaming with a Peacock subscription). But Laura Dern recently got honest about the doubts she and the rest of the OG cast had while filming that beloved blockbuster back in the day. Lets break it all down.
While we know that Jurassic Park is one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, actually filming it was a bit of a gamble. Laura Dern recently appeared on The Graham Norton Show, where she got real about the concerns she had while bringing Ellie Sattler to life. She told the story about her first day shooting, saying:
The very first day, we had high hopes, and then we were standing in line. It’s the scene where myself, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and the extraordinary Sir Richard Attenborough, are in a line, and we hear something in the distance. And it gives us all, hopefully, this hint that this isn’t going to go as well as we hoped. And nothing happened, because there was nothing there. Sorry, spoiler.
Honestly, points were made. Jurassic Park was the first movie of its kind, where CGI was used to add spectacle and stakes to its scenes. So for Dern and company, they were acting opposite nothing, and seemingly felt awkward as a result. Of course, we all know just how successful the renderings of the movie's dinosaurs would ultimately be in the theatrical cut.
Laura Dern celebrates Jurassic Park's legacy, but actually filming the original movie was a leap of faith for the cast and crew alike. There was also a learning curve for the OGs, specifically as they tracked dinos that weren't actually there. The Oscar-winning actress went on:
So everybody was looking in different directions, and there was no cue. And, on cut, Sir Richard Attenborough said, ‘Steven, my dear boy, we have to have something to focus on or look at so at least we’re in sync.’ He said, ‘Oh my god, of course, don’t worry.’ [He says,] ‘Action.’ We’re waiting, we’re listening, It’s getting very dramatic and, suddenly from a megaphone about two inches behind us, Steven goes, ‘Roar! Roar’ That was the moment I remember looking in Sir Richard’s eyes and saying, ‘Oh, this is actually going to be horrible. This is a nightmare.'
Of course, she was wrong. In the end, Jurassic Park was a huge success, kickstarting a franchise which still remains a beloved part of the pop culture landscape to this day. There might have been a learning curve for everyone involved, but those efforts definitely worked out. And to this day Ellie is one of Dern's most iconic characters.
As previously mentioned, Jurassic World Rebirth was released last year, and was one of the highest grossing movies of the year. It remains to be seen if a sequel is ordered, but it seems like a logical choice. Alas, we shouldn't expect it as part of the 2026 movie release list.
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