Steven Spielberg Introduced Clint Eastwood To The T-Rex From Jurassic Park
Everyone remembers the first time they saw a dinosaur, the wonder and the awe of the Brachiosaurus, the terror of the Velociraptors and the T-Rex.
While most of us only got to see dinosaurs on the screen during "Jurassic Park" and its many sequels, a lucky few got to see them in person. Granted, not the actual dinosaurs, but the animatronics used for the film. Just as audiences were mesmerized by the feat of artistry and engineering that went into creating the dinos, the cast and crew were surprised by the actual things, including guests who got early peeks at them. One unlikely person who got to see the dinosaurs early? Clint Eastwood.
That'll scare the hell out of you!
During an interview to promote her triumphant return to the franchise in "Jurassic World Dominion," Laura Dern told Uproxx about the time the crew of the original "Jurassic Park" had to relocate after the Hawaii sets were struck by the powerful Hurricane Iniki. At the same time, the animatronics were also malfunctioning, and Dern took advantage of the break in shooting to finish the movie "A Perfect World," which Eastwood directed. As Dern tells it:
"We were going to have lunch at the commissary. First of all, I am such a movie lover so to be on the Universal lot, to go to the commissary to have lunch with Clint Eastwood is crazy. Pinch me! And then, because it broke, Steven came and joined us and Steven said to Clint, 'Come back with us and see the T-Rex.'"
Now, according to Dern, this was before the big scene where the T-Rex makes its on-screen debut, meaning no one from the cast had seen the creature yet. But of course, if you're Dirty Harry Callahan and The Man with No Name, you get to see the darn dinosaur before most people.
So, how did Clint Eastwood, one of the most stoic and stern men in Hollywood react when face to face with an animatronic dinosaur? Just like the rest of the planet, apparently.
"He is seeing this life-size beast. He was like, 'That'll scare the hell out of you!' I was just like, 'Oh my God, my life is so amazing.'"