Spielberg present for Jurassic births
Steven Spielberg was at the birth of Laura Dern’s children. The 71year-old director – who raises seven children with wife Kate Capshaw – formed a close bond with his Jurassic Park actress after they were “buddied up” when a hurricane hit the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, where they were filming the dinosaur blockbuster, and the experience made them become like “family” to one another.
Speaking in the new issue of Empire magazine, Laura said: “Going through an experience like that is life-altering. Steven and I were buddies through the hurricane – everyone got buddied up – and by the time the film finished, we were family.
“He and his wife were at the hospital when I gave birth. We’ve been at each other’s children’s celebrations and birthdays. Our friendship has meant the world to me.”
Before the hurricane hit, Laura – who has children Ellery 16, and Jaya 13, with ex-husband Ben Harper – and her co-stars were concerned they “might die” in the extreme storm. Sam Neill, who played Dr Alan Grant in the 1993 box-office hit, recalled: “I remember being down the beach with Laura ... . We could see the storm approaching, like a pitch-black bit of sky heading over the horizon, coming straight for us.
“And Laura turned to me and said ‘Do you think we might die today?’ Which I thought was a very sensible question. I thought about it for a bit and said, ‘You know Laura, we might just do that. We might just die today’. The best approach, I thought, was to make light of it.”