Jurassic Park: Who Was Nearly Cast in Steven Spielberg’s Dino Classic?

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Jurassic Park: Who Was Nearly Cast in Steven Spielberg’s Dino Classic?

Sean Connery? Jim Carrey! It could have been so very different.

Not even two dodgy sequels and 25 years passing can erase the magic of the very first time you watched Jurassic Park.

The Steven Spielberg dino adventure brought gasps from audiences – young and old – when it premiered around the world in 1993. Even today, a couple of seconds of that classic score can give you tingles and take you back to first time you saw The Park.

Like all great films, everything felt and looked like it slotted together perfectly. But that wasn’t necessarily the case, as there were plenty of other big-name stars who so very nearly got the lead roles.

1. Harrison Ford was nearly… Dr Alan Grant

© REX/MOVIESTORE COLLECTION/DANNY MARTINDALE/WIREIMAGE

If it wasn’t already greedy enough that Harrison Ford had landed himself awesome cool roles in two of the biggest movie franchises of all time – Star Wars and Indiana Jones – he could have almost have added a third dino-sized film to his CV with the lead in Jurassic Park.

Spielberg made the revelation in a Q&A session, where Ford accused the director of only ever offering him the role of Indiana. Spielberg pointed out the to audience that he’d actually offered Ford the role of Dr Alan Grant before Sam Neill. Luckily for Sam Neill, Ford for some strange reason (perhaps as karma for getting Indiana Jones after Tom Selleck gave it a miss) said ‘no’.

2. Sandra Bullock was nearly… Dr Ellie Sattler