The Hollywood legend who pushed Laura Dern to agree to star in Jurassic Park

One of Laura Dern’s most high-profile roles played Dr. Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 adventure film, “Jurassic Park.” Dr. Sattler was a paleobotanist who had been invited by Burl Ives-like John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to visit his soon-to-open zoo on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica. Hammond had, through some genetic editing, found a way to clone and resurrect long-extinct dinosaurs, and hoped to display them in a Disneyland-like Jurassic Park. Sattler was there to give his approval to the project, but, much to Hammond’s dismay, he rejected the idea. It seemed like a Jurassic Park invited chaos.

And sure enough, when the dinosaurs escape their enclosures and wreak havoc on the island, she’s right. Dern was treated to plenty of action hero activity in “Jurassic Park,” having to sneak around the island to survive, reboot crashed systems and encounter severed body parts. His character was resolute, intelligent and courageous. Dern reprized the role in several “Jurassic Park” sequels.

But she almost didn’t take the role. Although working on a resurrected dinosaur thriller sounded like fun, Dern wasn’t sure if it was the kind of picture she wanted to appear in. She was unfamiliar with the Michael Crichton novel the screenplay was based on and wanted to do additional research before accepting an invitation to audition. In a recent episode of the “Smartless” podcastDern revealed that a fellow actor convinced her to give up the search and accept. She had met Nicolas Cage on the set of David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” and it was Cage who told her that dinosaurs were resurrecting, and that was enough to jump in with both feet.

Production on David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” began in 1989 and was released in August 1990, a few months before the publication of Crichton’s book. The plans for “Jurassic Park” had therefore been developed several years in advance. After the release of “Wild at Heart,” Spielberg – who was already developing the project – contacted Dern about appearing in his dinosaur adventure film. Spielberg even sent a script that Dern admitted he hadn’t read. Instead she called his “Wild at Heart” co-star to discuss the opportunity. Cage told him to jump, because, well, there will be dinosaurs. Cage wasn’t excited about Dern working with a powerhouse director like Steven Spielberg, but he seemed thrilled at the idea of ​​Dern on screen with a dinosaur. As Dern said:

“I had done ‘Wild at Heart,’ I guess, the year before? Two years before? Something like that. And so I told Nic Cage that I had been offered this opportunity. And I was like, you know, ‘I haven’t read it yet, but all I know is that Steven explained that […] the dinosaurs will come back to life. And there’s a book, I’m going to read it. And he says, “You don’t need to know anything. The dinosaurs will come back to life. You have to make this movie. And I just remember Nic being the person who, yeah, made me realize that I needed to say yes immediately before I found out more. »

Dern said yes and took the lucrative job. Cage, it should be noted, purchased a tarbosaurus skull, so he was clearly passionate about the biology of ancient creatures. Cage returned the skull to the Mongolian government when he learned it had been stolen.