23 Epic Facts About The Original Jurassic Park Movie That You Didn’t Know
In anticipation of one of the hottest films of 2015, we take you back to the original film in the
Jurassic Park franchise. How much do you actually know about the 1993 smash hit? Loads right?
Obviously it was directed by cinematic genius Steven Spielberg, and obviously Sam Neil was the mac-daddy, but what there are loads of little quirks and facts that you may have missed during your many viewings. Did you know that Laura Dern was almost never cast? Did you know that penguins were used in the making of the movie? I didn’t think so.
Here are 23 facts that you definitely didn’t know about Jurassic Park. If this doesn’t get you charged for the new Jurassic World movie, then I’m not sure what will…
1. The T-Rex was actually scary in real life
The heavy rain on set caused short circuits in the robotic T-Rex, causing it to ‘come alive’ at various intervals. Scaring the shit out of cast and crew.
2. Alan and Ellie’s sign
Alan and Ellie have a sign that reads, “No animal released without paperwork completely filled out” hanging in their trailer. LOL.
3. Tortoise Sex
The noise the velociraptors made when they talked to each other was conveyed by tortoises having sex. Rydstrom spent months recording animal noises, winning him two Academy Awards.
4. Hero Sam Neil hurt himself on set
While trying to distract the T-Rex with a flare he dropped it and hot phosphorus got under his watch and badly burned his arm. At least he has a reminder of the movie…
5. Jurassic World
The new film was nearly an entirely different movie. Before production was dropped many years ago, an idea was floated that the dinosaurs would be genetically engineered war machines capable of carrying weapons into battle.
6. The poorly Triceratops
The original book explains why the Triceratops got ill. The dinosaur lacks suitable teeth for chewing and would swallow rocks and to grind food in its digestive tract. After six weeks, the rocks would become too smooth to be useful, and would then be regurgitated. When finding new rocks, the Triceratops also swallowed toxic berries.
7. The Dilophosaurus is all a lie!
Despite being a popular part of the original movie, a lot of its main features were all a lie. Michael Crichton, author of the original novel, invented the dinosaur’s deadly venom-spitting ability, and director Spielberg added the iconic neck-frill.
8. Jaws
The film Jaws is playing on one of the computers. I think we’re going to need a bigger screen.
9. Black versus white
It is no coincidence that Ian Malcolm wears mainly black throughout then film while Hammond sticks to white. This is done to show their ideological differences.
10. We can’t clone dinosaurs
Sadly we don’t have the technology to clone dinosaurs, despite all the jargon during the film about chicken embryos.
11. Mr. DNA
Spielberg came up with the idea for the animated DNA character after joking to screenwriter David Koepp about how ridiculous it would be.
12. The raptors were puppeteers in lizard suits
The velociraptors in the film were much bigger than the real species, but shortly before the movie’s release, palaeontologists discovered a larger related species, the Utahraptor.
13. Laura Dern
Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright, Jodie Foster, Joan Cusack, Julia Roberts, Linda Hamilton, Sandra Bullock, Julianne Moore and Sarah Jessica Parker all tested for the role of Dr. Ellie Sattler before it went to Laura Dern.
14. Slideshow
In the dining room we see a slideshow that says that Jurassic Park will become more popular than sports and zoos.
15. Sir Richard Attenborough
Spielberg lured Sir Richard Attenborough out of a 14-year retirement to play the role in Jurassic Park. This was not the first time he had tried however, offering him to appear in two other films first.
16. The Ending
Initially the end of the film was supposed to be Grant shooting dead one raptor before killing the other with the mechanical T-Rex skeleton. However Spielberg decided that the T-Rex needed one last send-ff so included it to save everyone.
17. Realistic Dinosaurs
Lots of hard work went in to make sure the dinosaurs were as realistic as possible. So it’s funny that they gt 15 minutes screen time in a 127 minute long film.
18. T-Rex Sounds
The T-Rex cry was made of elephant trumpeting, penguin mating sounds, along with dog, tiger and alligator noises. Weird.
19. Dr. Alan Grant
Both Harrison Ford and William Hurt were offered the role before Sam Neil. Jaws star Richard Dreyfuss was also apparently considered.
20. Rippling Water
The iconic rippling water scene was inspired by Spielberg car mirror shaking while he listed to Earth, Wind and Fire. The effect was created by placing the glass of water on a vibrating guitar.
21. UR ASS PARK
At the end, the Jurassic Park logo is splattered with mud and spells out “UR ASS PARK”, a subtle joke that “you’re lucky to get out with your ass in one piece.”
22. Screams, screams and SCREAMS
The screams in this scene are genuine as the robotic T-Rex was not supposed to break the glass. Talk about method acting…
23. You only had one job…
Phil Tippett did a pretty bad job of supervising those bloody dinosaurs.
Chris Pratt might be the new man on the dinosaur scene, but can he compete with Sam Neil and dropping his flare on set? We’re not so sure to be honest. A truly epic film of my childhood, I’m just praying the new film doesn’t completely shatter the franchise. I’m sure with Stevie Spielberg at the helm we’re safe. So where are the original cast now? Lets have a little look shall we. Are you buzzing about the new Jurassic World movie? Let us know how much.