Good vibrations
The film’s most iconic shot – the glass of water vibrating at every step of the thunderous T-Rex – actually first came to Spielberg when he saw his rearview mirror shake while listening to Earth, Wind & Fire in the car.
It proved problematic to recreate, but FX expert Michael Lantieri eventually made the rippling effect happen by strumming a guitar string, that was attached under the dashboard beneath the glass.
Pet sounds
Want to know how all those wonderful roars and growls were created? The T-Rex was a combination of an elephant trumpeting and, hilariously, penguin mating sounds, as well as dog, tiger and alligator noises.
The Dilophosaurus was given a voice made up of howler monkeys, hawks, swans and rattlesnakes, while the Velociraptor squeal is a combo of elephant seal pups, walruses and dolphin squeaks.
And when the T-Rex catches a Galliminus in its mouth and shakes it? What you’re hearing there is a dog with a chew toy.
Apportioning blame
Jurassic Park is indirectly responsible for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace .
After completing principal photography on Jurassic Park , Spielberg left the post-production process early in order to start making Schindler’s List , and he left George Lucas in charge of overseeing the film’s digital effects. And it was while doing this that Lucas saw the improvements that had been made in CGI and decided that he could make his long-mooted Star Wars prequels.
Sick as a Triceratops
So, why exactly was that Triceratops so ill?
We don’t get an answer for Trikey’s sickness in the movie but Michael Crichton’s novel and screenplay (in which it was actually a Stegosaurus) supplies an answer.
It is explained that the dino lacks suitable teeth for chewing and so, like birds, would swallow rocks and use them to grind food in its digestive tract. After six weeks, the rocks would become too smooth to be useful, and the animal would regurgitate them. When finding new rocks to use, the Triceratops also swallowed toxic berries
Computer games
Since the film’s release there have been several Jurassic Park console games, for many different platforms. Subtitles for these games include The Chaos Continues, Trespasser, Chaos Island, Warpath, Scan Command, Survival, Operation Genesis, Dino Defender, Dinosaur Battles and Danger Zone !
All of which sound awesome.
Canny casting
Here’s a rare case of the source material dictating a real-life actor to be cast in the eventual movie adaptation...
In Michael Crichton’s original novel, he specifically mentions that the Jurassic Park audio tour is narrated by Golden Globe-winning actor Richard Kiley.
So, of course, Spielberg hired Kiley to provide the voiceover in the park vehicles.
Shattered glass
If you thought that the young kids Lex and Tim were particularly convincing during the T-Rex’s attack on their car, there’s a reason.
When the monster dinosaur comes through the roof of the Explorer, the glass wasn’t meant to break, so the children’s screams were very real.
Alternate ending
Originally, Jurassic Park was going to end just with Grant saving the kids from the raptors. He was going to shoot one dead and then use a mechanical T-Rex skeleton in the foyer to kill the other.
However, Spielberg realised that he needed one last triumphant return for the T-Rex and so changed the ending to include him in. Maybe this late change explains the long-debated question of how the T-Rex seems to appear out of nowhere?
The Indy connection
In incredible movie-crossover trivia, the helicopter pilot who rescued the cast and crew when Hurricane Iniki hit the filming location is one Fred Sorenson.
Sorenson has a film credit of his own to his name. He plays Jock, the seaplane pilot who rescues Indiana Jones at the start of Raiders Of The Lost Ark .
The Jurassic Park 4 that nearly happened
The new sequel, Jurassic World , very nearly ended up as a very different film.
Before production was dropped and the idea shelved many years ago, a script was written for Jurassic Park 4 that involved genetically altered dinosaurs being bred for war and trained to carry weapons for battle.
There is no part of this that we don’t want to see.
