There’s a new Jurassic Park movie in theaters, but you have to go all the way back to 1993 to revisit the original film in the franchise.
The first film was a huge hit and it still holds a special place in the hearts of many people. Here are 10 interesting facts about that blockbuster movie.
1. Tell me more…
Steven Spielberg was working with author Michael Crichton on a screenplay that eventually became the TV show ER when Crichton told the director about his next book, Jurassic Park.
Spielberg was so excited about the project that he convinced Universal to buy the film rights to the book before it was even written so he could eventually make it into a film.
2. Could have been different.
A lot of other big-name actors were up for roles in the film.
The include Harrison Ford, William Hurt, Christina Ricci, Robin Wright, Juliette Binoche, and even Sean Connery!
I’m sure you can guess what roles they were up for, and I could see all of those folks in the roles.
3. The roar.
To create the roar of the might T. rex for the movie, sound designers combined the sounds of tigers, elephants, and baby alligators.
The sound of the Dilophosaurus is a composite of rattlesnake hisses, hawks screeching, howler monkeys, and swan calls.
4. The storm.
The film was shot in Kauai, Hawaii and the island was hit by Hurricane Iniki during production in September 1992.
It was the strongest hurricane to hit Hawaii in recorded history.
The hurricane caused over $3 billion in damages and resulted in six people losing their lives.
5. Experts on hand.
Paleontologists served as consultants on Jurassic Park to ensure that the dinosaurs in the film looked and acted as they would have in real life.
Paleontologist Robert T. Bakker was one of those consultants and in his 1995 book Raptor Red, he wrote in the forward: “The artists … wanted the latest info on all the species they were reconstructing. They wanted everything to be right. They’d been calling me once a week for months, checking on teeth of T. rex and skin of Triceratops. I’d sent them dozens of pages of dino-details.”
In an issue of Popular Mechanics in 2012, Bakker added that the artists who created the dinosaurs in the film were “better animal morphologists than most tenured professors.”
6. Out of retirement.
Richard Attenborough came out of a 15-year retirement from acting to star in the film.
He said he agreed to do it because Steven Spielberg had “the charm of the devil.”
7. I’ll take it from here.
Filming wrapped on Jurassic Park on November 30, 1992, and Spielberg had to get started immediately on Schindler’s List which went into production in March 1993.
Spielberg tapped his friend George Lucas to take over some of the post-production responsibilities so he could focus on his next project.