– How old were you when you saw “Jurassic Park” for the first time? I had prepared for the conversation with Chris Pratt, yet the question hit me right in the stomach. The man I have a Zoom conversation with is known from movies like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the TV series “Parks and Recreation”. Now he is playing dinosaur trainer Owen Grady again in the sixth and final “Jurassic Park” movie, “Jurassic World: Dominion”. From the conversation between Chris Pratt and me when he asked the question. Pratt has just said that he was 13 years old when he saw the very first film, Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece from 1993. He thinks the film was crap and was not significantly scared, the tough guy recalls. Then Pratt asks how old I was – and I answer: – Well, I was seven years old and had nightmares for several weeks afterwards. – Off, it was hard to hear, Pratt says slightly ironically. But this is not nonsense to me. The consequences of “Jurassic Park” were great for several years afterwards. Here I celebrate my own seventh birthday. The innocent eyes would soon see “Jurassic Park” for the first time. Photo: Private I now want to tell the story of how the world’s most famous director managed to create a film that was so close to reality that it almost ruined the children’s birthdays. And how 25 years later I received unexpected support from a retired film critic. Because like all good Hollywood movies, this story also has a happy ending. Changed the film industry We are going back a little in time. Specifically, 65 million years. The dinosaurs ruled the planet. Then an asteroid came and killed them all. 65 million years ahead in time, a terrified boy is sitting on a leather sofa. In shock and desperation, he asks his aunt to immediately turn off the film in which Tyrannosaurus rex is about to take the lives of two cubs of his own age. The boy’s own age, that is. I have no idea how old Rex was supposed to be at the time. Anyway, that boy was me. I was seven years old and had just started school. Steven Spielberg was 50 years old and soon seemed finished. Yet the film genius from Cincinnati, Ohio, still had the ability to see the world through a child’s playful eyes as he carved the dinosaur story that changed the film industry. Man played God Spielberg was in the early 90’s one of Hollywood’s hottest potatoes and could do as he pleased. The director wanted to film Michael Crichton’s novel “Jurassic Park”. The story of the scientist who had found a way to revive dinosaurs and how wrong it could be when people play God became a huge sales success. Everything was in place for Spielberg to do the same with the film. It was just a gigantic problem: at that time there were no special effects that could recreate dinosaurs in a good enough way for the bearded director. The solution Spielberg came up with was the main reason why I had to ask my aunt to turn off the film. The dinosaurs he had created seemed so real that the method revolutionized the use of visual film effects. Real Dinosaurs – I think many people, and perhaps especially children, are so preoccupied with dinosaurs because they have actually lived on our planet, as tall as houses. In “Jurassic Park”, these monsters were recreated in an incredible way, says Chris Pratt. What Spielberg did was combine innovative computer effects with living dinosaurs. Living dinosaurs ?! Yes, the director had faith in the feeling of seeing something physical and real in front of the camera. Steven Spielberg in front of one of his dinosaur robots during the filming of “Jurassic Park”. Photo: Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment With the help of good people, Spielberg created animatronic dinosaurs. That is, dino-robots that could be moved using a kind of remote control. When Tyrannosaurus rex attacks the children in the film’s most dramatic scene, it is partly a “real” dinosaur. The children’s frightening and more than credible screams must have been marked by the robot’s very realistic appearance. In addition, mr. Rex several unpredictable movements, partly because the robot could not withstand water. Only half of this scene as a seven-year-old gave more than enough impression to a dozen nights of nightmares. What I fortunately did not know was that “Jurassic Park” would be a regular in the children’s birthdays ahead. It presented challenges. Children’s birthdays I do not know if others did this. But with us, it was a tradition to watch movies together on children’s birthdays in the 90s. Of course, “Jurassic Park”, but also the sequel “The Lost World”, was a regular. On several occasions I had a stomach ache, both before and during the parties. What should I have done? I could not risk watching that scene with the kids in the car. But no one had to know that I was scared. We were about to become big boys now, after more and more film birthdays. I continuously considered escape possibilities when the water glass in the children’s car shook, as a clever warning of danger to life. Could I disappear to the bathroom? Ask to be picked up because I had become acutely ill? For the most part, the films were interrupted by cakes and fish ponds. In fact, we never got to the moment where the T-rex vandalizes small, innocent, poor children on a safari in the amusement park from hell. I escaped. For this time. Unexpected support – The scene where the dinosaur attacks the children was vulgarly scary. It ruined the whole film for me, says former film reviewer in VG, Jon Selås. The man who gave “Jurassic Park” dice roll 1 in 1993, Jon Selås. Photo: Eilif Aslaksen / news Selås gave one of the most lucrative films of all time a roll of the dice 1. Largely due to the scene with the children in the film. In the VG review, he wrote, among other things: “… do not come and say that warnings have not been given when the nightmares haunt the children’s rooms”. This is how the roll of the dice 1 review looked in print in VG. Photo: VG The former film critic admits that he has received many reactions to the roll of the dice, but is still responsible for the slaughter of the famous classic: – Putting some kids in a car, while a dinosaur almost manages to eat them up was far too speculative and a cheap way to create excitement. It probably meant that I had just had children myself. Selås is paradoxically in a good mood to hear about my dinosaur traumas. – It makes me happy to hear that you reacted the same as me. Then maybe I had a real gut feeling at the time. The film critic has become an older man, but no dinosaur. He still watches movies, but admits he has never seen “Jurassic Park” again. I can not say the same thing at all. Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Laura Dern and Sam Neill became even bigger stars after “Jurassic Park”. Here from a famous scene. Photo: Universal Pictures / Getty Images Happy ending Now it could not be avoided anymore. Still away, friends had suggested seeing “Jurassic Park.” I suggested something else. When I was 13 years old, I decided to watch the whole movie. The experience surprised me. When I managed to torment myself through the scene where the remote-controlled dinosaur roars in the face of two terrified children – and afterwards he eats one they are on a guided tour with – I experienced something nice: a feeling of mastery. Since then, “Jurassic Park” has been my favorite movie. I’ve seen it at least 20 times. But it still feels in my stomach when I see the poor children in that car. Chris Pratt laughs. – That film made an impression on many. Some more than others, he says. Now Pratt will end the 30-year-old saga about the fearsome dinosaurs. “Jurassic World: Dominion” premieres in Norway on June 10. Photo: UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT
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