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Jurassic World Rebirth's David Koepp "didn't have a single idea" how to continue the previous movie's exploration of humans and dinosaurs co-existing in the real world... so he scrapped it entirely using "a great speech" from Michael Crichton's original Jurassic Park novel.
The screenwriter returns to the franchise with the series' most recent outing, having penned the script's original 1993 film and its sequel The Lost World. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he was asked why it was so important for him to make the giant reptilian baddies... well, baddies again, to which he candidly replied: "They took that idea all the way. Dinosaurs were nesting on the Chrysler Building and renting apartments downtown. I didn't have a single idea about where to go with that.
"But I wanted to respect what occurred in the first six movies, because I hate when you watch and they gaslight you and say, 'No, that never happened.' Or, 'That was a timeline,'" he added. "I hate that shit. So I said, 'No, that all happened, but I want to make them special again. How do we do that?' I wanted us to be back in their environment instead of them in ours."
While Jurassic World Dominion – which, at 29%, has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score across the franchise – had scenes set across Malta, Italy, and California, Jurassic World Rebirth sees Scarlett Johansson's mercenary-for-hire Zora Bennett escort Jonathan Bailey's paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis to the mysterious, remote Ile Saint-Hubert, alongside pharmaceutical exec Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend). Their mission? To bring back samples from dinosaurs with DNA believed to have life-saving benefits. A task that, as you might expect, proves easier said than done.
"In re-reading the books, I found the perfect justification," said Koepp, explaining how he shifted things back to an island setting. "There's a great speech which I just popped into the script, which was that we think these things are going to live here now, but we forget that this is a different planet. Our landscape is completely different except this narrow band where the environment is somewhat similar to what it used to be [where dinosaurs can survive]. So let's make dinosaurs exotic and special so that we have to go seek them out instead of, you know, fighting with them over a cab."
Jurassic World: Rebirth is in cinemas now. For more, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming movies heading our way.
