Laura Dern and Sam Neill have spoken out about the age difference between their two characters in the original Jurassic Park film.
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The characters they played, Dr Ellie Sattler and Dr Alan Grant, were in a relationship – but there was a twenty year age gap between their characters.
Speaking to The Sunday Times in a new interview ahead of the release of Jurassic World: Dominion – where the pair will resume playing their original characters – the actors reflected on the age gap between their characters.
“Laura was a tender age. I’m guessing . . . 23?” Neill said, before adding: “I am 20 years older than Laura…Which at the time was a completely appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady!
“It never occurred to me until I opened a magazine and there was an article called ‘Old geezers and gals’. People like Harrison Ford and Sean Connery acting with much younger people.” In Six Days, Seven Nights, Ford, then 55, starred opposite Anne Heche, 29; and in Entrapment there was a 39-year age gap between Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. “And there I was, on the list.”
Dern added: “Well, it felt completely appropriate to fall in love with Sam Neill. And it was only now, when we returned in a moment of cultural awareness about the patriarchy, that I was, like, ‘Wow! We’re not the same age?’”
The sequel to 2018’s Fallen Kingdom will see Chris Pratt star once more as dino-whisperer Owen Grady alongside Bryce Dallas Howard as ex Jurassic Park operations manager Claire Dearing. They will be joined by the original Jurassic Park trio of Jeff Goldblum, Dern and Neill.
Speaking ahead of the film’s release, Pratt discussed the possibility of another Jurassic movie as well as him returning to the dinosaur franchise.
Pratt said he remains “open to [the] possibility” that another Jurassic movie will happen and that he might be in it.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, the actor compared the dinosaur series to the Marvel Cinematic Universe – which he’s a part of, starring as Peter Quill (AKA Star Lord) in the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise.
“I think maybe Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame is a similar comp because you’ve got whatever that was … 10 years, 20-something films,” Pratt said. “All of these characters each had their own stories, their own trilogies, coming together. And you’re like, ‘This is wild.’ You’ve seen these worlds collide. It feels the same way.
“You’ve got the Jurassic Park trilogy. You’ve got the Jurassic World trilogy, and it’s this big epic conclusion. Now, at the end of Avengers … They’ve continued to make these Marvel films, but that does feel like a phase that is over. It’s rolled over into a new phase, you know?”
Jurassic World Dominion, the third and final film in the Jurassic World series, is set to be released in UK and US cinemas on June 10.
