The Hollywood Legend Who Made Laura Dern Agree To Star In Jurassic Park

One of Laura Dern's more high-profile roles was playing Dr. Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's 1993 adventure film "Jurassic Park." Dr. Sattler was a paleobotanist who had been invited by the Burl Ives-like John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to visit his soon-to-open zoo on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica. Hammond had, thanks to some genetic tinkering, found a way to clone and resurrect long-extinct dinosaurs, and hoped to display them in a Disneyland-like Jurassic Park. Sattler was there to give her approval on the endeavor, but, to Hammond's dismay, rejected the idea. It seemed that a Jurassic Park is inviting chaos. 

And, of course, when the dinosaurs escape their pens and wreak havoc on the island, she is right. Dern was given a lot of action-hero activities in "Jurassic Park," having to sneak around the island surviving, re-starting crashed systems, and encountering severed body parts. Her character was resolute, intelligent, and brave. Dern reprised the role in several "Jurassic Park" sequels. 

But she almost didn't take the part. While working on a resurrected dinosaur thriller sounds fun, Dern wasn't sure if it was the kind of picture she wanted to appear in. She wasn't familiar with the Michael Crichton novel on which the script was based, and wanted to do some more research before accepting an invitation to audition. On a recent episode of the "Smartless" podcast, Dern revealed that a fellow actor convinced her to forego the research and just accept. She had met Nicolas Cage on the set of David Lynch's "Wild at Heart" and it was Cage who told her that dinosaurs come back to life, and that was enough to jump in with both feet.

David Lynch's "Wild at Heart" began production way back in 1989, and was released in August of 1990, months before Crichton's book was published, so the plans for "Jurassic Park" were being laid many years in advance. After "Wild at Heart" came out, Spielberg — who was already developing the project — reached out to Dern about appearing in his dinosaur adventure flick. Spielberg even sent over a script, which Dern admitted she didn't read. Instead, she called her "Wild at Heart" co-star to discuss the opportunity. Cage told her to jump, because, well, there will be dinosaurs. Cage wasn't excited about Dern working with a powerhouse director like Steven Spielberg, but he did seem thrilled at the idea of Dern on screen with a dinosaur. As Dern told it: 

"I'd made 'Wild at Heart,' I guess like the year before? Two years before? Something like that. And so I told Nic Cage that I had been offered this opportunity. And I was like, you know, 'I haven't read it yet, but all I know is Steven explained that [...] dinosaurs are gonna come back to life. And there's a book, I'm gonna read the book.' And he goes, 'You don't have to know anything. Dinosaurs are gonna come back to life. You have to do this movie.' And I just remember Nic being the person who, yeah, made me know I had to say yes instantly before learning more."

Dern said yes, and took the lucrative job. Cage, it should be noted, once purchased a tarbosaurus skull, so he was clearly keen on the biology of the ancient creatures. Cage returned the skull to the government of Mongolia when he learned it had been stolen.