Ian Malcolm's Jurassic Park Hero Moment Was Suggested By Jeff Goldblum
In Steven Spielberg's 1993 adventure film "Jurassic Park," celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, actor Jeff Goldblum plays a hip, rock-'n'-roll mathematician named Ian Malcolm who has been invited to the titular theme park to test out the facilities and attractions before it opens to the public. He and the film's other protagonists ride in automated jeeps in a simulated safari, looking out the windows at various dinosaur pens. That Jurassic Park's creator, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), didn't think to put the dinosaurs below ground level like at a normal zoo shows a great deal of short-sightedness on his part.
Lo, a storm hits, the park's power goes down, and the electrified fences keeping the dinosaurs enclosed all shut off. In one of the more notable sequences in "Jurassic Park," a Tyrannosaurus rex breaks out of its pen and begins stalking the jeep-bound protagonists. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), a dinosaur expert, seems to know that tyrannosaurs have limited vision and cannot see their prey if the prey merely stays still. This hypothesis was proven true when a cowardly lawyer (Martin Ferrero) fled the dinosaur, and the creature stalked him into a bathroom and ate him.
Also in the Tyrannosaurus scene, Ian Malcolm, seeing there are two children in danger of being eaten, leaps from his jeep with a flare, hoping to distract the dinosaur. Malcolm doesn't know that the dinosaur would walk away if he was still, and his cavalier actions lead to him being laid up with dinosaur-related injuries for the rest of the film.
Ian Malcolm's brave flare-wielding was evidently Goldblum's idea. According to a recent interview with ReelBlend podcast host Jake Hamilton, Golblum made the suggestion to Spielberg himself.
The hero moment
Goldblum said the moment came during a rehearsal. Evidently, Ian was written to flee the Tyrannosaurus like the Ferrero character just did, but it seems that Goldblum wasn't comfortable with that level of comparable cowardice. He made his suggestion and was relieved with Spielberg took it. Goldblum said:
"And then we acted it out. I kind of tweaked my part and said, 'Hey, instead of just running away like the lawyer does, in fear, abject fear, can I do something kind of brave and heroic?' I break it open and I said, 'Let me break open that thing.' I said, 'I'm going to distract this thing while you save those kids!' It was [my idea]. Steven Spielberg is a genius and it was his idea finally to include this stupid idea of mine. And then do something with it, too. But I kind of had a feeling for that, yeah."
Self-deprecation aside, Goldblum's idea did indeed improve the scene. Sure, it might have given Goldblum an ego boost to play a more heroic, braver character, but it also offered the scene some variety. Rather than witnessing two characters running away from a dinosaur in a similar fashion, each character reacted in their own idiom. Ferrero fled in fear. Neill used his wits. Goldblum used his gut. It was also more appropriate for Malcolm, who was something of a cynic, but also a practical fellow. His bravery is not out of character.
Goldblum would, of course, return to play Ian Malcolm in the 1997 sequel "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," as well as the more recent films "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" and "Jurassic World Dominion." Not only is he a fan favorite, but makes for a sexy Funko Pop.