`Jurassic'
Actors from across the “Jurassic Park”/”Jurassic World” franchise appear in the new “Jurassic World: Dominion,” including, from left, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Isabella Sermon and DeWanda Wise.
The public devoured it like a hungry T. rex, as the film took in $652 million at the box office.
Trevorrow’s sandbox had grown, to say the very least.
Now comes Trevorrow’s supposed final lap around the lucrative “Jurassic” track, “Jurassic World: Dominion,” a prophetic title if there ever was one, considering that this ambitious capper on the series is setting the international box office afire in the smattering of markets where it has already opened. The film thunders into U.S. theaters this week.
Trevorrow bridges the old and the new with “Dominion,” uniting stars from the “Jurassic World” series with major players from the original: Laura Dern as the principled Dr. Ellie Sattler, Sam Neill as jealous Dr. Alan Grant and Jeff Goldblum as hilariously self-assured math whiz Ian Malcolm.
The film takes place four years after the conclusion of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” and has dinos living among humans around the world. Sattler, Grant and Malcolm eventually join forces with Claire and Owen to take on the evil Biosyn genetics company.
“Jurassic World: Dominion” was a tough cookie to pull off since production started in February 2020 in British Columbia and had to shut down abruptly in March 2020, after filming moved to Britain, due to the spread of COVID-19.
The team returned to the shoot in July but had to adhere to strict health and safety protocols. As formidable as that obstacle was, the tougher assignment for Trevorrow was to stitch the characters from the “Jurassic Park” series into the storylines already sewn into “Jurassic World’s” fabric. Trevorrow has co-written all three “World” screenplays.
“It was the hardest part,” he acknowledges. “We made this massive production during a pandemic and at the same time we were telling two parallel stories that were drawing closer and closer together until they were to collide and continue to the end. It’s not the most traditional way to structure a mainstream blockbuster movie.”
But “Jurassic World: Dominion” presented a unique opportunity, broadening the
Trevorrow
Claire (Howard) is up to her neck in trouble in “Jurassic World: Dominion,” co-written and directed by Colin Trevorrow.
Owen (Pratt) flees one of the dinosaurs that have been living among people in “Jurassic World: Dominion.”
The dinosaur cast has more feathered species, though Beta and Blue aren’t among them.
island-locked locales of the two previous thrillers, both of which were primarily set in the Isla Nublar theme park that is destroyed at the end of “Fallen Kingdom.”
“Dominion” takes the dinos’ tempestuous relations with humans to a whole new level as the plot hopscotches from the Sierra Nevada to Malta and numerous
other locales, some urban and some rural, where dinos are now being illegally traded and sometimes wreaking havoc on everyday living.
“World” features more feathered dinos (a more accurate portrayal of the prehistoric landscape) than the genetic creations in the first two “World” entries, and
continues to explore potent issues about genetic manipulation. It also interjects humor, pathos and action as it addresses our contentious times. Per usual for Trevorrow, who broke out with the 2012 sci-fi rom-com “Safety Not Guaranteed,” the new film fuses various genres.
“The last film was about animal trafficking, moving
animals from one continent to another, which is something that is dangerous and destructive,’’ he said. With the new film, “We’re talking about larger issues of how we are manipulating genetic power right here and now — from the [film’s] locust epidemic to the notion of what Maisie Lockwood [the cloned, adopted daughter of Claire and Owen] represents and what medical advances could come from that.”
It was a lot to chew on, and Trevorrow didn’t want to be preachy. Yet he did want to show how working together can help move the needle forward.
“We wanted to talk about all those elements and with a sense of hope, with a sense that if we can work together we can benefit from all these discoveries and then we can move into the future in a very positive way. But we can’t do it if we’re at each other’s throats all the time.”
Along with some pulsepounding action sequences, “World” features the appearance of two new characters, the scene-stealing for-hire pilot Kayla Watts (played by DeWanda Wise) and Biosyn’s stylishly dressed head of communications Ramsay Cole (another scene-stealer, Mamoudou Athie). Their characters add more depth and diversity to the “World” sphere and are essential to the plot.
Being able to leave such an impression amid actors well established in the series says something about how strong the newcomers are, Trevorrow says.
“They just step into the film and take their place in it. I found it to be very powerful and I love both of them as humans,” he says.
But will we get the chance to see them again?
“If there were to be more ‘Jurassic’ films with them involved, I would be first in line, for sure,” he says. While there are no additional “Jurassic” films in the works, no one would be surprised if one or more turned up.
After being a captain of sorts for this franchise, you might imagine Trevorrow would favor taking on a standalone project. Not so. He is all about story-building.
“Honestly, I’d like to create something new, ” said Trevorrow, referring to a multichapter project. “It’s really difficult to create a new myth in this day and age. But I think so few people would be in a position to be able to even try that it’s hard for me not to try. So, yeah, I’m working on a new myth.”
In other words, he’s back in that imagination sandbox, playing with new toys.