Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster “Jurassic Park” will go down as one of the most groundbreaking works in movie history, as its use of CGI to bring realistic dinosaurs to the big screen revolutionized visual effects in Hollywood.
But not everyone felt they were making history while on set.
Oscar winner Laura Dern, who played paleobotanist Ellie Sattler, recalled an instance when Spielberg did something on set that had the cast unsure if he could pull it all off.
“Day one, when we were supposed to hear a distant, faint sound that could be the T-Rex, and we all had to listen to the sound at the same moment, Sir Richard Attenborough [who played park creator John Hammond] said, ‘We’re going to need a cue of some kind, there has to be something ominous about something in the distance and we’re not sure we heard it,’ and Steven said, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry,'” Dern told Business Insider.
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“The camera rolled, and suddenly, with a megaphone in the middle of that moment, Steven sounded exactly like this, [lamely] ‘Rooarrrr… Rooaaarrr,'” Dern continued. “And Sir Richard looked at me and was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m not sure about this!’ We had no idea.”
But Dern realized once she saw the movie that it was silly to have doubted the man behind “Jaws” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
“We watched the movie together — Steven, myself, Jeff [Goldblum], and Sam [Neill], at Amblin with popcorn,” Dern recalled. “Steven had just finished everything. And we were beside ourselves. Popcorn was flying everywhere. I was grabbing onto Steven, terrified. Mind blown.”
“Jurassic Park” would go on to earn close to $1 billion in its original theatrical run and spawn a franchise that has been rebooted several times.
Mind blown, indeed.
