Everything We Know About The Original Jurassic Park 4 Script

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Jurassic World is the fourth movie in the Jurassic Park franchise, but the film could have been very different. Here's a breakdown of the original script for Jurassic Park 4.

After the monumental success with the first Jurassic Park in 1993, Universal began developing a sequel based on Michael Crichton's sequel novel, Jurassic World: The Lost World for a 1997 release. A third film then came out in 2001, which marked both the first time Steven Spielberg didn't direct (Joe Johnston took over) and the first movie not based on a book. Spielberg still stayed heavily involved in the project and even had plans for the franchise beyond the third film.

The script for Jurassic Park 4 was leaked during the development stages which revealed the very different direction the franchise intended to go in. Of course, those plans never came into fruition and the fourth film eventually led to the creation of Jurassic World. Although Jurassic World turned out to be a reworked concept as the start of a fresh trilogy, it did share elements with one of Jurassic Park 4's early drafts, particularly the notion of dinosaurs trained by humans with the intention of weaponizing the species. With that said, here's what was made public regarding the scrapped plans for Jurassic Park 4.

THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT FOR JURASSIC PARK 4: A MISSION TO STOP DINOSAURS BREEDING

Johnston and Spielberg already had an idea for Jurassic Park 4 before the third film premiered. The ball started rolling in 2002 as Spielberg mapped out a story but there wasn't a director attached. William Monahan was announced as the screenwriter and the movie was supposed to see the return of Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). The duo would have chartered an expedition to follow dinosaurs that migrated the Costa Rican mainland. The dinosaurs were breeding freely at that point and the team needed to find a way to contain the spread of the creatures.

Richard Attenborough planned to reprise his role as John Hammond and actress Keira Knightley was rumored for the main role. Jurassic Park 4 was scheduled to film in California and Hawaii in 2004 with the hopes of a 2005 release. But, as the expected filming dates approached, there was still no director attached and Knightley's character was written out. The script was then reworked into a brand new direction.

THE REWRITTEN JURASSIC PARK 4 SCRIPT: HYBRID DINOSAURS

Screenwriter John Sayles took over for Monahan in May of 2004. Sayles wrote multiple drafts, one of which focused on a mercenary named Nick Harris who was hired by Hammond to retrieve the DNA that was in the shaving cream can that was dropped by Dennis Nedry on Isla Nublar. Harris would have been kidnapped and persuaded into leading a team of genetically modified dinosaurs. The dinosaur hybrids were supposed to go on rescue missions aside from busting drug cartels. The draft evolved and later included a species of dino-human mercenariers that wore armor and attacked on command.

Jeremy Piven and Emmy Rossum were being eyed for key roles and Attenborough was still planning to return. The wild script then faced numerous rewrites but Spielberg and others were never satisfied. By 2008, the plans for Jurrasic Park 4were officially on hold and eventually, the idea was abandoned altogether. A few years later, Johnston announced that the fourth Jurassic Park film would be the start of a separate trilogy and would focus on a new set of characters. A specific direction was put in place and Colin Trevorrow signed on to direct Jurassic World, which premiered in 2015, over a decade after the initial film's plans.

Source: https://screenrant.com