The Dinosaur Was the Star, So Jurassic Park Did Not Need One
He told the author to skip a leading man, bet everything on one director, and worried the dinosaurs would look fake.
David Senra · Founder of CAA Michael Ovitz: "I Just Knew I Was Going to Outwork Every One of Them"Michael Ovitz, founder of the talent agency CAA, finished Michael Crichton's book about cloned dinosaurs and told the author how he would build the film.
The plan had three parts. He thought the book was excellent with broad appeal because people love dinosaurs. He thought the picture needed no major actor because the dinosaur was the attraction. And he thought one director, Steven Spielberg, the filmmaker behind Jaws and E.T., was the person to make it.
The second point carried the business logic. He noted only that going without a star was important financially. In general, forgoing a star often lowers the upfront cost of a picture.
Ovitz sent the book to Spielberg. Spielberg called Ovitz the next day and said, "I'm in." In his own retelling of his talk with Crichton, Ovitz said there was "only one human on the planet" for the job, meaning Spielberg, and without him the film could not be made.
Then came the worry that could have sunk the project. Ovitz recalled that "everyone was scared to death that it would look like an early Godzilla movie."
Spielberg got them to look real by combining computer images with physical pieces he had built and filmed, a head here and part of a torso there, with the full animal kept out of view. He looked for people who could do the work and put them through repeated trials until the result held up.
When asked why Spielberg was the singular choice, he credited Spielberg's grasp of story, casting, and technology. Few directors in the early 1990s, he added, handled all three, with Jim Cameron as a rare exception.
Questions people ask
What does packaging a movie mean?
In Hollywood, packaging means assembling the key elements of a movie before a studio commits money, usually the story, the writer, the director, and the actors. An agent or producer puts the pieces together as one proposal, which gives the project shape and value. Here, the package was the book, the author, and the director, with no actor attached.
Why did skipping a big star matter financially?
Stars often command high salaries plus a share of profits, which can raise the budget before filming starts. Going without one often lowers that upfront cost and reduces risk if the effects fail. It can also leave more room to spend on what draws the audience, in this case the dinosaurs.
How did the mix of computer effects and built models help?
Spielberg combined computer images with life-size pieces built for the shoot, such as a head or a section of the body. The built pieces gave the actors something solid to touch in close shots, while computer images covered movement in wider shots. The team researched vendors and ran repeated tests to make the blend hold up.