Plenty of child actors have shared stories about having their first kiss on screen. From the sounds of it, having that milestone moment while cameras are rolling and tons of people are watching seems like it could be pretty memorable, if not a little embarrassing. However, It sounds like one of Jurassic Park’s child stars actually found his own first on-screen lip lock to be pretty entertaining, even though it came courtesy of a unique situation that involved Sam Neill.
Joseph Mazzello played Tim Murphy, one of Dr. Hammond’s grandchildren, in Jurassic Park. In one of the film’s most dramatic scenes, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) has to resuscitate him after he’s electrocuted on one of the park’s fences. Though it’s a tense moment to watch unfold on screen, it could have been a much more stressful scene for the actors to film -- especially Joseph Mazzello, who wasn’t even ten years old yet. Despite this, he recently revealed that it was actually a momentous event for him, made a little bit easier by the fact that his scene partner was a total pro:
Sam is just an incredible guy. He was so much fun on set to be around. We had to do so much with him, we had to get in the mud with him, he had to be our surrogate father for a lot of this movie. So he was just phenomenal and incredibly warm. We had to share some very intimate moments in this movie, including a CPR scene that was true. We really did it, mouth to mouth. So I’ve kissed Sam Neill. It was my first on-screen kiss, and it was everything I hoped it would be, and more.
The fact that Joseph Mazzello can joke about what could have been a really uncomfortable moment says a lot about his costar’s professionalism. It definitely sounds like Sam Neill knew how to make the whole situation as easy as possible on his young costar, which is honestly really nice to hear.
During IGN's live Jurassic Park watch party, Mazzello added that the older actor made sure he was comfortable with how the scene proceeded:
It was funny when we did the CPR, because at first I think Sam was worried about it, he was embarrassed about it. He was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know. It’s weird. It’s a kid.’ … He was doing like this [mimics stacking his hands and blowing air through them] with his two hands. And then he was like, ‘Oh, this looks stupid. I’m just gonna do it, is that alright?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’
Yeah, in Sam Neill’s defense, that is a very awkward situation to be in, but it sounds like he handled it as best as he possibly could. That gives us yet another reason to root for him and his character when they return for Jurassic World: Dominion, though unfortunately we’ll have to wait a bit longer than we’d hoped for that epic return.
