Alan Grant & Ellie Sattler

JURASSIC PARK (1993)

We all love Sam Neill and Laura Dern as palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant and palaeobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler, partners who are invited to Jurassic Park by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). But William Hurt and Harrison Ford first turned down Spielberg, as did Robin Wright. Their loss turned out to be our gain, for Neill and Dern are as responsible for making the action believable as Stan Winston’s animatronics and ILM’s dazzling VFX. Grant and Sattler returned for Jurassic Park III, though they were no longer a couple – Ellie is married with children. They’ll be back again in Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion. JG

MEET-CUTE They’re a couple before the film begins, but let’s say the bit where Grant turns Sattler’s head away from the Vermiform plant to see the Brachiosaurus. BEST BANTZ John Hammond: “There’s no doubt our attractions will drive kids out of their minds.”

Alan: “And what are those?”

Ellie: “Small versions of adults, honey.” FURTHER ADVENTURES Jurassic Park III (2001), and reuniting with Jeff Goldblum for Jurassic World: Dominion (2022): will sparks fly again?