USA TODAY International Edition
Bryce Dallas Howard has heeling power in ‘Jurassic’
LOS ANGELES – Bryce Dallas Howard is not stepping down from her high heels. Far from it. The “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” star smiles while teetering slightly atop floral Sophia Webster heels as she makes her away across a plush-carpeted suite at the Palihouse West Hollywood Hotel. “I have a lot of fun with heels, more fun with heels when I am sitting down,” she says once seated. But Howard knows that wearing heels is making a statement, given her “Jurassic World” shoe history. “I’m asking for it,” she says with an infectious laugh.
Howard, 37, is embracing the footwear flap that erupted around 2015’s “Jurassic World,” in which her Claire Dearing memorably, and improbably, sprinted through the jungle in stilettos.
Back in 2015, publications such as The Atlantic called the shoe choice “ridiculous” in the jungle action adventure — especially alongside the properly attired male hero, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt).
Howard still stands behind the creative choice as the franchise’s next chapter, “Fallen Kingdom,” arrives in theaters, with Claire in heels once again (at least initially).
She maintains that Claire’s shoes and pristine white business suit, quickly destroyed in the first “Jurassic World,” were indispensable aspects of her dinosaur park operations manager being unexpectedly pulled from the floor of her power job to the jungle.
The final footwear decision was hers at the time. Howard, who didn’t believe Claire would have flats in the office, turned down other workable concepts such as going barefoot (“I thought I’d get tetanus”) or a “Romancing the Stone” moment, chopping off the heels (“I didn’t want to copy that”).
“There was a point where we had to decide. I remember that day when I said, ‘I’m going to keep these shoes on,
please,’ ” Howard says. “I always saw it as a really fun thing that she runs through the jungle in heels and the outfit gets totally demolished.”
“Jurassic World” rebooted the dinosaur franchise with a record $209 million opening weekend on its way to a $1.6 billion worldwide haul.
Howard has even doubled down on the heels three years later, as a moregrounded Claire is introduced in “Fallen Kingdom” as the head of a grass-roots dinosaur protection charity. Director J.A. Bayona makes a point of showing Claire’s heels entering the office.
“It was originally written for me to wear sneakers. And I was like, ‘No, no, no, no. I am going to wear heels. That’s what I am going to do.’ It felt like it completed the journey.”
But “Fallen Kingdom” also allows Claire the opportunity to pack sensible clothing as she returns with Pratt’s Owen to Isla Nublar to save the dinosaurs from extinction for a second time through volcanic destruction.
She’s proud of her “fearless” character.
“Claire has courage and guts. There’s a passion and intensity,” Howard says.
“These qualities can be used for terrible reasons or really great reasons. Getting to play to someone who gets to display these sides is rare.”