Half-Assed Internet Research
Research covers the rights auction, production history, scientific details, sound and practical effects, finances, cultural influence, and unused material.
In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:32Read transcript
- Warner Bros./Tim Burton, Columbia/Richard Donner, Fox/Joe Dante, and possibly Paul Verhoeven were competing studio-director combinations before Universal and Spielberg secured the property.
- Universal leadership reportedly conditioned approval of Schindler’s List on Spielberg making Jurassic Park first; he later called it an effort to make Jaws on land.
- The movie reportedly increased interest in paleontology, and the discussion connects Spielberg and Michael Crichton’s relationship to ER.
- Several dinosaurs are said not to belong to the Jurassic period, turning the title into an admitted branding choice rather than a precise scientific label.
- Universal paid Michael Crichton about $2 million before publication, divided between rights and a screenplay draft later replaced by David Koepp’s work.
- The T. rex roar combined dog, penguin, tiger, alligator, and elephant sounds, while the water-glass ripple came from a guitar string under the dashboard.
- The hosts credit the film with accelerating franchise-oriented blockbuster competition and discuss Chip Kidd’s influential skeletal T. rex book cover.
- An abandoned sequence would have had the children ride a young dinosaur, but the effect was judged unconvincing.
- Alan Grant is said to be modeled on Montana paleontologist and technical adviser Jack Horner.
- Spielberg reportedly earned about $250 million from the film, which the hosts still call underpayment given the billion-dollar gross and franchise created.