'Jurassic Park'
Hold onto your butts! The Ringer's Sean Fennessey, David Shoemaker, and Bryan Curtis are taking their helicopter back to 1993's mesmerizing blockbuster 'Jurassic Park,' starring Velociraptors, a T-rex, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill, and directed by Steven Spielberg.
Cast
Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant
Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm
Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler
Richard Attenborough as John Hammond
Samuel L. Jackson as Ray Arnold
Wayne Knight as Dennis Nedry
Bob Peck as Robert Muldoon
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Michael Crichton, David Koepp
Music by: John Williams
Notes
- Spielberg made 'Jurassic Park' AND Schindler's List in the same year (1993) – he left post-production on JP to film Schindler's List in Poland, directing JP's post from there.
- Only 55 shots in the film are fully CGI. The blend of Stan Winston's practical animatronics and ILM's digital effects is what makes the dinosaurs still hold up decades later.
- Phil Tippett, hired for stop-motion animation, saw the CGI tests and said 'I think I'm extinct.' Spielberg put a version of that line in the movie.
- The water-in-the-glass vibration effect for the T-Rex approach was achieved by plucking a guitar string attached beneath the dashboard – it took the crew a long time to figure out.
- The T-Rex sounds were a combination of dog, penguin, tiger, alligator, and elephant recordings.
- Spielberg's profit participation from the film was reportedly around $250 million.
- Paleontology program enrollment spiked significantly after the film's release.
- Chip Kidd's original book cover design – the T-Rex skeleton silhouette – became the movie's logo and one of the most iconic pieces of graphic design in pop culture.
- Michael Crichton originally wrote the novel from a child's point of view before scrapping it.
- All the dinosaurs in the park are female, making 'Jurassic Park' a surprisingly feminist text – and 'life finds a way' means nature literally overcomes male control.
- The hosts discuss the irony that the film's own merchandising success mirrors the theme park's crass commercialization that the movie critiques.
- The hosts argue 'Jurassic Park' launched the modern blockbuster/IP era that eventually led to the franchise-dominated landscape of 2018.
Categories
- Winner (unanimous): The T-Rex attack on the cars – the water glass vibration, the goat disappearing, the fence breaking. Bryan says it's the greatest action set piece in movie history.
- Other nominees: the kitchen raptor scene, the Brachiosaurus reveal / 'Welcome to Jurassic Park', 'Clever girl' / Muldoon's death, and Nedry's death by Dilophosaurus.
- Harrison Ford was offered Alan Grant but turned it down – he didn't want to do another franchise. William Hurt was also considered.
- Jim Carrey was in the mix for Ian Malcolm.
- Richard Dreyfuss was discussed for Hammond. There was also debate about the kid casting.
- The CGI/practical effects combo – only 55 CGI shots in the whole film, and they still look better than most modern blockbusters because of Stan Winston's animatronics.
- The tech dreamer archetype – Hammond as a proto-Silicon Valley visionary who doesn't respect what he's created.
- Jeff Goldblum's entire performance and chaos theory monologues.
- John Williams' score.
- Some of Michael Crichton's science-babble and the idea that you can explain cloning dinosaurs with a Mr. DNA cartoon.
- Wayne Knight's broad comic performance as Nedry – a little too goofy for the movie.
- The 'It's a Unix system! I know this!' line.
Bob Peck as Robert Muldoon. Only in a few scenes but completely owns every one. 'Clever girl' is one of the most quoted lines in movie history, and he delivers it knowing he's about to die. That's a heat check.
- Jeff Goldblum – yes. This is the role that made him a movie star and a cultural icon. The unbuttoned shirt, the chaos theory, 'life finds a way.'
- Also discussed: T-Rex (apex mountain for any dinosaur in any movie), and Spielberg (debated – could also be 'Jaws', Schindler's List, or Raiders).
- Richard Attenborough as John Hammond – 'Spared no expense!' He brings this grandpa-showman energy to every scene. The ice cream monologue is peak Attenborough.
- Other nominees: Wayne Knight's entire Nedry performance, and Jeff Goldblum's laughing/moaning after the T-Rex chase.
- Some of the dialogue punchlines get muffled or buried – the sound mix sometimes prioritizes spectacle over wit.
- The unnecessary 'I endorse this park' line from Grant at the end.
- How does the T-Rex paddock suddenly have a giant cliff for the car to fall down?
Danny Trejo – the hosts enthusiastically agree that adding Danny Trejo with a machete fighting dinosaurs would be incredible.
Extensive half-assed research this episode: the Chip Kidd book cover origin, Spielberg's profit participation numbers, the guitar-string water glass trick, Phil Tippett's 'I'm extinct' quote, T-Rex sound design details, and paleontology enrollment stats.
Could a different director have made 'Jurassic Park' better? And is this Spielberg's true apex – the film that, by proving CGI's potential, inadvertently led to the franchise-heavy, CGI-dependent era that diminished the kind of filmmaking Spielberg himself pioneered?
Sean picks Jeff Goldblum. David picks the dinosaurs themselves (T-Rex and the raptors). Bryan picks Spielberg.