Reunited And It Feels So Good! On April 28, 2022, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum sat down with Fandango’s Behind The Movie for Fandango’s All Access Channel on YouTube, to discuss how it feels to come back to Jurassic World Dominion. They discuss what it was like to return 25 years later to playing Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler and Dr. Ian Malcolm, and the movie that solidified the Doctor’s trio in film history with Jurassic Park!

FIRST IN THEIR KIND…

Dern, Neill and Goldblum discuss what it was like to be some of the first actors back in 1993 to mostly film in Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) versus coming back and filming in CGI now. They talk about what it was like back then to fake an expression to a character that wasn’t there in front of them. The three actors then discuss who is the best at imitating amazement and fear for the cameras. Neill and Goldblum agree that Dern is the best of the three of them.

GOING THROUGH CHANGES…

Dern discusses how other actors would ask her after she made Jurassic Park, what it was like to film a movie with mostly visual effects added after the fact. She then talks about how amazing it is that now, most actors in Hollywood have filmed a movie with a CGI character. The three actors discuss the advances in filming CGI movies now compared to filming one of film history’s first back in 1993.

FIRST DAY OF DINOSAUR SCHOOL REUNION…

The trio discuss what it was like coming back for their first day on the set of Jurassic World Dominion, and if it was the same as the first time, they were together or if it was different this time around. Goldblum discusses how coming back this time, they had built a friendship while filming Jurassic Park, so it was different. He went on to say that the friendship has carried on for decades since they filmed their last scene together in 1993, so when they were filming during the COVID-19 Pandemic it was comforting to be confined with a cast of friends rather than a cast of actors. Neill then referred to their filming during the pandemic as “cuddle mugging” to describe the closeness of the circumstances for filming during the pandemic lockdown.

JURASSIC FARM…

The actors then discuss how close they have been since filming and use the example of animals on Sam Neill’s farm being named after Laura and Jeff. To which, Sam breaks the news to Jeff that “Jeff the Ram” has been retired. Goldblum then asks for Neill to elaborate on what he means by retired, and if this is like when his mom told him that his dog went to live on a farm in Pennsylvania when he was a kid. Neill confirms this is like that, and Dern remembers her dad, Bruce Dern, telling her the same thing about her dog when she was a kid too.

WHEN GOLDBLUM SHINES…

This eventually leads to discussion about Goldblum’s witty nature on and off screen and he lets us know that there are callbacks to his famous lines from Jurassic Park that have become memes in the world of social media. We don’t, however, know what call backs we might see in Jurassic Park Dominion, due to the cast being sworn to secrecy as to the nature of the plot in the film. Jeff also says, there will hopefully be new phrases of his that will hopefully become timely classics.

TALENT FOR ACTION…

Sam Neill discusses the differences in the responsibility of the cast of the Jurassic World films to be action stars, versus when Dern, Neill and Goldblum filmed the original in 1993. He alludes to the fact that they weren’t as action inclined as Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, to which Laura and Jeff jokingly tell Sam, “Speak for yourself”. Neill goes into detail about the abilities of Pratt as an action star, that he is efficient, and Sam admires his talent.

JURASSIC WORKOUT…

Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum add to this by remembering how Chris would have the cast go through stretching exercises to and workouts to prepare for scenes that would require physical strength from the cast that day. And Dern went into to detail about the difference of how Bryce filmed her action scenes now versus in 1993 when Laura spent a lot of time just running from CGI dinosaurs.

A CRETACEOUS LEGACY…

The trio discuss the legacy of the Jurassic Park franchise and how it amazes them even now, to be approached and remembered for their Jurassic Park characters. Laura talks about how her favorite part of meeting fans, is when they share their stories of when they first saw Jurassic Park in the theater as kids, and how she’s honored to be a part of these same fans being able to now create those same memories with their children.

THE MYTH AND THE LEGEND…

Dern also talks about how she sent a picture of the three on set to Steven Spielberg and that he told her it gave him all the feels to see them making another Jurassic movie together after all these years. The three also talk about how Spielberg was instrumental in making this historic movie in the way that Steven is famous for making movies, and that with that passion and genius he was able to take the “magic of dinosaurs” as Neill referred to it and create this historic franchise that will live on in film history as one of the most beloved.

CAST TRIO REVIEW…

They end the interview leaving fans anticipating the scenes of their reunion in Jurassic World Dominion saying they had just recently saw the movie for the first time and they loved it and hope we do too!

You can watch the entire interview with Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum here:

Jurassic World Dominion is playing now in select theaters and an Extended Version of the film, featuring deleted scenes will be released for Purchase on Digital, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD on August 16, 2022.

Run to your local theater or catch your copy!