A Jurassic Park Mishap Took A 'Chunk' Out Of Sam Neill's Arm And Left Him Scarred
"Jurassic Park" is a movie that needs no introduction. One of the finest moments in the career of one of cinema's most celebrated filmmakers, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel of the same name remains one of the most important blockbusters of all time. It was one of the biggest box office hits ever when it was released, but also a movie that shaped the landscape of blockbuster filmmaking for decades to come. It was a hulking cinematic achievement and one that left some battle scars along the way.
Sam Neill was one of the key members of the cast, playing Dr. Alan Grant who, after being persuaded by Richart Attenborough's John Hammond, visits Isla Nublar to discover that the billionaire has managed to bring dinosaurs back to life. Things go very wrong after the dinosaurs break out of their cages. Go figure. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in 2013 for the film's 20th anniversary, the cast and crew divulged some of the movie's secrets. Neill, for example, explained that he carries with him a permanent scar from an injury he suffered during the T-rex breakout sequence:
"I've still got a big scar on my left hand that I'm looking at right now from the flare. It dropped some burning phosphorous on me and got under my watch and took a chunk of my arm out."
As viewers will surely recall, the T-rex breaks out of its enclosure during a rain storm and chaos follows. Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm and Neill's Alan Grant use flares to distract the prehistoric beast from hurting Tim and Lex. Unfortunately for Neill, a hot chunk of that flare got caught in just the wrong place, leading to not-insignificant injury.
Suffering for your art
One of the most interesting things about Sam Neill's injury is that the scene in question took place in the rain. Well, artificial rain anyway. The shot was set in the rain but Spielberg filmed the sequence on a sound stage, meaning that lots of water was being pumped onto the set and all over the cast, not to mention the crew.
"It was very wet. I remember drinking a tremendous amount of hot tea during the whole thing," Ariana Richards, who plays Lex, said in the EW piece. "I didn't get sick, but there were all these wind machines and rain pouring down on us. A lot of mud, I remember that. The hair and makeup people were always plastering mud on us constantly to make sure we looked dirty enough." Despite the artificial precipitation, Neill got burned and burned badly.
In the end, Neill suffered for a good reason. Not only was the film itself a big hit, but it turned into an enduring part of the pop culture landscape that spawned a multi-billion-dollar franchise. Neill even returned for last year's "Jurassic World Dominion," which became one of a small handful of movies to make at least $1 billion since the pandemic began. For an actor with an impressive resume, he told EW it remains the project he's most recognized for around the world:
"I get stopped for different reasons on the street, but 'Jurassic Park' would be the most universal of them. If I go to the Philippines or Rwanda or something, people just know me all around the world. And they'll start roaring like dinosaurs."