One Jurassic World Rebirth Star Took Inspiration From An Unlikely Disney Movie [Exclusive]

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Every actor has a process for getting into a role. Sometimes it involves real-world research or a lot of personal reflection, but oftentimes, it includes, at the least, watching other movies that might be relevant to the project at hand. Luna Blaise did precisely that in preparing for her role in this summer's blockbuster "Jurassic World Rebirth," the seventh entry in the long-running dinosaur franchise. Amusingly, her research even included a pretty surprising animated Disney movie.

/Film's Ben Pearson recently spoke with Blaise in Thailand in honor of "Rebirth" hitting Digital and Premium Video on Demand platforms. The actor co-stars in the movie as Teresa Delgado, one of the members of a family that winds up shipwrecked and stranded on an island filled with misfit dinosaurs. When asked if she had watched any films to prepare before director Gareth Edwards rolled cameras, Blaise replied:

"Of course, I watched 'Jurassic [Park].' I watched 'Jurassic,' 'Jaws' — all the nostalgic references that we have in our movie. But I tried to actually watch a movie that was about a sibling relationship."

Given that Steven Spielberg started this whole thing with "Jurassic Park" and literally invented the summer blockbuster as we know it with "Jaws," those first two films Blaise mentioned make sense. However, she also found a far less obvious source of inspiration in the form of 2003's "Brother Bear." As Blaise explained:

"I couldn't actually find a lot that was a bonding adventure story. But, you know, what I did end up watching, and I did actually take a lot from it, was 'Brother Bear.' Disney's 'Brother Bear.' Because he's there with the little brother bear the entire time, and he's protecting him through this journey that they didn't know that they were going to embark on. They end up going on it, and they survive, and there were a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but the whole time, it was protecting the one you needed to protect. So, I actually did watch that in preparation, because I just looked up sibling movies, and 'Brother Bear' came up. It's a random one, but it worked."

For those who may not be familiar, "Brother Bear" was directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker. The film follows Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix), a young Inuit hunter whose older brother Sitka (D.B. Sweeney) is killed by a bear. Kenai, in his quest for vengeance, kills the bear in retaliation, only to be transformed into a bear himself by the spirits of the mountains as punishment for his actions. Thus, Kenai is forced to navigate the wilderness and meets a young bear cub named Koda (Jeremy Suarez), who becomes his guide and companion, with the two ultimately forming a bond of brotherhood of their own.

"Brother Bear" is a surprisingly sad Disney movie, for one. It goes hard. In that way, it's a more logical bit of research for a movie like "Rebirth" than it might seem on the surface. After all, Blaise's Teresa had to help protect her younger sister Isabella (Audrina Miranda) from all sorts of prehistoric threats. There's a parallel there, to be certain: Two living beings, one younger and one older, trying to survive in a hostile environment.

The environment in question is Ile Saint-Hubert, a previously unexplored island in the "Jurassic" movies. It was the original research facility that InGen and Biosyn used to help create some of the dinosaurs for their parks, but not all of them worked, with the mutant D-rex being a prime example of things going south. So, they were left to essentially rot and fend for themselves on that island for the better part of 20 years.

Edwards' entry in the franchise also stars Scarlett Johansson (Zora Bennett), Jonathan Bailey (Henry Loomis), Mahershala Ali (Duncan Kincaid), Rupert Friend (Martin Krebs), and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (Reuben Delgado). As of right now, Universal hasn't announced what awaits the "Jurassic World" franchise in the future, but given how successful "Rebirth" has been at the box office, only can only assume there will be more to come. Whether or not that involves the Delgado family in any capacity remains to be seen.

"Jurassic World Rebirth" is now available to own or rent on Digital. You can also pre-order the movie on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD from Amazon.