How The End Of Oak Street Differentiated Its Dinosaurs From Jurassic Park And Other Dino Films [Exclusive]

According to David Robert Mitchell and J.J. Abrams, the respective writer/director and producer of the throwback thriller "The End of Oak Street," the film is a deliberate homage to the genre movies of the '70s and '80s, with a particular focus on the output of filmmaker Steven Spielberg. The movie follows one average suburban family, the Platts, as their neighborhood is mysteriously swapped with a chunk of land in the middle of a prehistoric age, forcing them to suddenly deal with roaming hordes of ravenous dinosaurs. This predicament the Platts have to face may be harrowing, but Mitchell and Abrams had a different high bar to clear while making the movie: a long-running and hugely successful franchise featuring dinosaurs begun by Spielberg himself. To be fair, dinosaurs aren't the exclusive intellectual property of 1993's "Jurassic Park" and its six sequels. Yet that franchise's popularity and influence are wide-ranging, enough to make the task of distinguishing the dinosaurs in "Oak Street" a difficult one.

Fortunately, Mitchell, Abrams, and the cast and crew of "The End of Oak Street" were up to the task, as the dinosaurs seen in the movie only barely resemble those seen in the "Jurassic" series. Again, the cultural cache of "Jurassic" is hard to escape, but other films have done it successfully, whether 20 years ago (Peter Jackson's 2005 "King Kong") or more recently (last year's "Primitive War"). In the case of "Oak Street," I asked what the filmmakers' approach to their dinosaurs was during a recent chat with Abrams and Mitchell. The latter explained how they differentiated their dinos from "Jurassic Park" and other films, a process which involved taking inspiration from both real-world science and their own imaginations.

The strength of "The End of Oak Street," like any great genre film, lies in its characters. Yet while Denise (Anne Hathaway), Greg (Ewan McGregor), Audrey (Maisy Stella), and Brian (Christian Convery) are the focus of the film, the dinosaurs have to be credible, too — but that doesn't mean that photorealism is the only priority. "Oak Street" features dinosaurs which not only look unique but also behave in specific ways. In other words, they need to be characters in their own right. This was how David Robert Mitchell and his crew approached the task of creating dinosaurs for their movie, as the filmmaker explained:

"What these dinosaurs were, what the set pieces [were, began] at the script stage. But then beyond that, it was working with Jay Cooper, our VFX supervisor, and his team, some [from] ILM, some amazing concept artists, and it was really just all of us going through that artwork and brainstorming and talking about what something might scientifically be, but then also taking creative liberties in places and just kind of having fun with it as a team."

Mitchell's summation of the creative process is borne out by the dinosaurs in the film. Indeed, the creatures are all feathered, aligning with the most current scientific research into real-life dinosaurs. Additionally, the fun that Mitchell described having with the crew comes through in the various unfiltered ways the dinos behave, and Mitchell's style of not putting too much focus on them only makes them seem that much more singular and real. Giving new cinematic dinosaurs their own flavor may be a challenge, but Mitchell and company have made it look easy.

"The End of Oak Street" is now in theaters nationwide.