Let’s be honest, Jurassic Park has got to rank as one of the greatest movies of all time. It has a great script, fun characters, an awesome score, and, of course, dinosaurs! Sure, the sequels might have been rubbish (Jurassic World was great though), but the original is a classic of the film world. Even that iconic score by John Williams is enough to give us goosebumps and crave a return to the Park.
When it was released in 1993, Jurassic Park was revolutionary and did things with special effects that no movie had tried before. It is considered one of Spielberg’s best movies, and set the benchmark for the summer blockbuster. So, after sitting down to watch it for the umpteenth time, we decided to take a look at some of the awesome things you never knew about Jurassic Park.
We have ER to thank
Michael Crichton was the author of the Jurassic Park novel before it was adapted into a movie. And, he had an existing relationship with Steven Spielberg after they worked together on a screenplay that would become the pilot episode of ER. During their time working together on the script, Spielberg found out about the Jurassic Park novel, and convinced Universal to option it before it was published.
There is only 14 minutes of dinosaur footage
The original Jurassic Park movie runs over two hours in length, but, incredibly there is only 14 minutes of actual dinosaur footage, but less than half of it contains CGI! When you think back now, you think that can’t possibly be right. Surely there is more than that, right?! But no, there is actually only quarter of an hour of footage of actual dinos in this flick. The ending with the raptors and T-Rex is one of the most iconic in film history, but apparently, the scene is not quite as long as we thought it was.
Casting could have been very different
Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern are iconic in this movie, and we can’t think of anyone better suited to the parts. However, the casting could have been entirely different, as there were some other big names being touted for the roles when casting was being done. Harrison Ford and William Hurt were considered for Sam Neill’s part of Dr. Grant. Sean Connery nearly got the role of John Hammond, and Robin Wright could have wound up with the role of Ellie.
Richard Attenborough came out of retirement for the film
Richard Attenborough had been retired from acting for since 1979 when the movie was set to be made. However, he was approached by Spielberg personally, and asked to take on the role of InGen CEO John Hammond. Despite having enjoyed a successful transition into directing, Attenborough was sufficiently charmed by Spielberg, and was convinced to come out of retirement for the movie.
Jurassic Park is a masterpiece of epic proportions and the film that showed us all how cool dinosaurs could be – as if we didn’t know already! The movie definitely warrants multiple viewings, and, hopefully, now that you’ve found out these awesome facts about it, you’ll enjoy the movie that little bit more on your next viewing.
