A huge comeback
Fallen Kingdom, the sequel to blockbuster hit Jurassic World, has more action, adventure, suspense and emotion to boot. Actress Bryce Dallas Howard talks about her return to the dinosaur-infested jungle.
THOSE awesome, terrifying and majestic dinosaurs just can’t seem to stay extinct, like in the history books. Onscreen they’re alive and healthy, thanks to that smash hit that was Jurassic World back in 2015, which resuscitated the Jurassic Park franchise back to roaring animatronic and CG life.
So it was only a matter of time before an exciting sequel would emerge in the form of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
In the much-anticipated new movie, Hollywood stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their heroic characters as dinosaur trainer Owen Grady and former Jurassic World operations manager Claire Dearing respectively.
Set a few years after the events in the original movie, the new story starts off on Isla Nublar where the various breeds of dinosaurs roam free. But the reptilian residents soon come under threat from something even more powerful than the strongest dinosaur: A massive volcano, which will destroy the island and send the animals back into extinction.
Owen and Claire join a private group who go on a mission to rescue the fearsome creatures and relocate them to a safe area.
Unknown to them though is a secret plan that will once again threaten life. Can the dinosaurs be saved? Should humanity keep tinkering with science and nature?
Based on the characters created by famed novelist Michael Crichton, the new movie is helmed by Spanish director J.A. Bayona, who is known for The Orphanage
(2007), The Impossible (2012) and A Monster
Calls (2016).
Co-written by previous Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, the new movie also stars Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, B.D. Wong, Isabella Sermon, Geraldine Chaplin and Jeff Goldblum, who starred in the earlier Jurassic Park movies from the 1990s.
Bryce, who is the daughter of acclaimed Hollywood director Ron Howard, is also a respected writer and director in her own right.
The 37-year-old Californian and mother-of-two has been in show business since 1989, having had roles on the big and small screens, as well as in video games.
Some of the big hit movies she has starred in include Lady in the Water (2006), Spider-Man 3 (2007), The Twilight Saga:
Eclipse (2010), 50/50 (2011), The Help
(2011) and Pete’s Dragon (2016).
Howard received Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards nomina-
for Best Actor for As You Like It (2008) and Black Mirror (2016) respectively.
Below, the Hollywood actress talks about returning to her feisty role and its evolution, as well as working again with Pratt, a new director and the Goldblum experience.
HOW HAS CLAIRE CHANGED — AND NOT CHANGED — IN THE TIME SINCE WE LAST SAW HER? What I will say is, her mission has changed, her sense of purpose has changed, her perspective has changed, but her personality hasn’t changed. She’s still the same person she was. And I think that where we are now, between the first and second films, she has become an activist.
She’s created an organisation called the Dinosaur Protection Group, and the mission of that organisation is to ensure that these animals are afforded the same protections as any other endangered species. And I think there’s really a strong argument to be heard there.
When a volcano is going to be erupting on Isla Nublar, jeopardising the lives of all the dinosaurs there, she’s on this mission to save their lives.
Owen, and a lot of other people, think we should just let nature take its course. So she’s certainly in a different mindset, but has still found a way to manage a position of leadership and authority.
YOU’RE COMING BACK TO HER. WERE THERE THINGS YOU WANTED TO BRING TO HER THIS TIME? We wanted the people to evolve and still have it be a dinosaur movie that rocks! I think that by the end of Jurassic World, she’s someone who is far more connected to her heart, integrated more, and found her feminine side and power. So I think these were all qualities that I wanted to bring into this.
Physically - in the first movie, I had this very severe haircut. I wanted to just wear my hair in a ponytail, and I haven’t dyed it between then and now. So it’s all natural. I wanted to bring more of an earthiness to Claire that is more her character. It’s the way that I pictured her growing up. She’s someone who has an earthiness and is not prissy.
The film itself is different in tone. World is an action-adventure, but this has suspense and horror layered on top.
And emotion too. It was very fun, and I think that it’s right for there to be a deepening in this film. What I love is that we do have time on the island, and then we also have the very American sense of humour that Jurassic Park and Jurassic World have. It feels like a Jurassic movie, but pushes the genre into a place where the stakes are being raised. And I think that JA (Bayona, director) has such a haunting quality to his work, a sense of mystery to it, and who is also incredibly cinematic and visually cinematic. It is thrilling to have the action adventure and then transition into the stakes being raised and emotional resonance.
JA BAYONA LIKES TO USE MUSIC ON SET TO SET THE TONE. AND USE RANDOM SOUNDS. HOW WAS THAT? It’s perfect! I’m stealing that for when I direct again. If we have a walk-and-talk that has nothing to do with dinosaurs, I’m having that dinosaur cue ready! You want to see something authentic, have a dinosaur roar ready! It’s so cool because Bayona is fluent in English, but when you get down to it, this is about storytelling, communication, and everything in between.
We don’t speak Spanish and there are nuances that might not always translate so for him to think of this as a tool. We would go through a rehearsal and he would start to play the music and we would understand the pace of the scene, the tone of it, what the energy level was at. We got so much. If it was emotional, if it was scary. If it was triumphant. It’s awesome!
AND WAS THERE A PUSH TO HAVE MORE OF THE PHYSICAL CREATURES AND PRACTICAL SETS? COULD YOU RELATE TO THE ANIMATRONICS
MORE THAN CG?
Totally. It’s remarkable. It’s awe-inspiring what they’re able to do in terms of bringtions
ing these animals to life and it’s like any performance. I might not be performing with a real animal, but there are 11 women and men who are bringing that animal to life. You play a scene enough, and it just makes sense. The animal looks real, feels real, it’s real. And you do form emotional attachments. Blue is my favourite character, hands down. I keep saying that the third film needs to be Blue’s movie! I’m the POV character in the first movie, I feel there is a strong arc for Chris and his relationship with Blue and then I want it to be her movie!
ARE YOU AND CHRIS SIMILAR TO YOUR CHARACTERS?
We’re legitimately similar. He’s not exactly Owen and I’m not exactly Claire, but we’re probably almost 80per cent our characters.
AND YOU HAVE A NATURAL FRIENDSHIP CHEMISTRY?
It’s really awesome. Chris is the best, but also getting to do this kind of movie with a person like that? It’s an even partnership, and that’s not always the case.
The fact that so much of the story is about our relationship and not a willthey-won’t-they, it’s seeing them problem solve together and how their personalities help or inhibit their survival. It’s really fun, natural, and a huge pleasure.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO HAVE JEFF GOLDBLUM IN THIS FILM?
Every movie he does, you’re seeing him at the top of his game. I think he meditates and he might also be a genius! He kills me! It’s amazing he’s in this movie. I’m just desperate for scenes moving forward with Claire and Dr. Ian Malcolm, because they have completely different perspectives on the whole thing and I just want them to fight! The passionate arguments between them, and for Owen to be looking back and forth...
YOU HAVE SOME NEW CAST MEMBERS TOO. DID YOU FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR WELCOMING TO THE MOVIE?
Totally! I’ve had thankfully a couple of awesome experiences on franchises — I was in a Spider-Man film and Twilight, and I remember thinking in all those instances being really appreciative of how folks brought me in and were really supportive and warm.
Also, looking at them with one another, and seeing how they had been through this adventure together and like a troupe of actors, they kept coming back.
I really hoped that if I got a chance to experience something like that one day, I could draw from that. So here we are, and any folks that are a part of telling the story and are part of the family, do feel the same sense of ownership that actors like Jeff, and Laura Dern, who has gone out of her way to be supportive.Courtesy of UIP Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opened in cinemas nationwide yesterday.