15 Things You Never Knew About 'Jurassic Park' on its 25th Anniversary
Watching "Jurassic Park" for the first time was like glimpsing into the future. So what does it say that this beloved Steven Spielberg movie is now 25 years old?
The film, released on June 11 1993, changed the way we make movies. To mark that major milestone, and to pass the time until "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" hits theaters, here are some fun facts you might not know about "Jurassic Park."
1. Ian Malcolm's line, "I think we're extinct," was a late addition to the script. In EW's oral history of the film, back in 2013, the line's origins started with dino supervisor Phil Tippet, who was brought on to oversee animating the dinos in stop-motion before ILM's Dennis Muren presented his first CG animation test in wireframe form. "Steven asked me how I felt after seeing the footage," Tippet revealed, "and I said, 'I think I'm extinct.' He said, 'That's a great line. I'm putting that in the movie.'
2. Prior to directing "Jurassic Park," Spielberg was working with writer Michael Crichton to develop a film version of "ER." The two returned to the hospital-set project after "Jurassic Park" was released, turning it into a TV series instead.
3. Despite the dinosaurs being the biggest selling point of the movie, "Jurassic Park" features only 15 minutes of actual dinosaur footage.
4. "Terminator 2" director James Cameron said that he wanted to direct "Jurassic Park," but the film rights were sold before he had a chance to bid on them. Cameron has admitted that this was probably for the best, as his version would have been darker and more violent.
5. One of the reasons Spielberg cast Ariana Richards as Lex is that she screamed so loudly and convincingly during her audition, that Spielberg's sleeping wife woke up and ran into the room to see what was wrong.
6. In one shot, one of the monitors at Nedry's cluttered workstation can be seen playing the movie "Jaws," also directed by Spielberg.
7. One of the most difficult effects to achieve in the film was also among the simplest -- the cup of water that vibrates when the T-Rex nears the tour. Special effects artist Michael Lantieri finally cracked the code by attaching the cup to a guitar string underneath the dashboard and pulling it.
8. Julianne Moore was one of many actresses who tried out for the role of Ellie Sattler. She was instead cast as Sarah Harding in 1997's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park."
9. Despite the fact that the Jurassic Park logo features a skeletal T-Rex, the T-Rex actually lived during the Cretaceous Period. Crichton admitted that he just picked the design because he thought it looked cool.
10. The film establishes Ian Malcolm and John Hammond as polar opposites when it comes to scientific philosophy. That clash is even reflected in their respective costume designs, with Malcolm wearing all-black outfits and Hammond all-white.
11. The film greatly exaggerates the size of Velociraptors for dramatic effect. However, during post-production, a new, larger species of raptor -- called the Utahraptor -- was discovered.
12. Between his salary and back-end royalties, Spielberg earned a whopping $250 million from "Jurassic Park."
13. The dilophosaurus is never shown walking during its brief appearance as it attacks Nedry, as the puppeteers struggled to properly convey movement. Spielberg eventually decided that simply having the dilophosaurus appear next to Nedry was more effective.
14. Both "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List" were released in 1993, with Spielberg having to finish post-production on the former via videoconference while filming the latter. The process proved so grueling that Spielberg didn't release another film for four years after.
15. Laura Dern, who played Dr. Ellie Sattler, recalled in Entertainment Weekly's recent oral history of "Jurassic Park" how Spielberg pitched her the movie: "I know that you're doing your independent films, but I need you to be chased by dinosaurs, in awe of dinosaurs, and have the adventure of a lifetime. Will you do this with me?" Her "Wild at Heart" co-star Nicolas Cage, who said he'd always dreamed of being in a dinosaur movie, urged her to say yes.