"Jurassic World: Dominion" stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire Dearing), DeWanda Wise (Kayla Watts) and writer/director Colin Trevorrow — In this interview with CinemaBlend's Mike Reyes on location in Malta.
Watch as they discuss which new scenes they’re most excited for fans to see and how they feel about being a part of the “Jurassic Park” legacy.
Watch as they discuss which new scenes they’re most excited for fans to see and how they feel about being a part of the “Jurassic Park” legacy.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I'm great, especially because we're here to talk about the extended edition,
00:03which I am blown away how much 14 minutes adds to the film
00:07because I loved it theatrically, but okay.
00:09Yeah.
00:10Owen and Claire's relationship gets to breathe more with Maisie.
00:12Yes.
00:13And then we get to see more of Kayla and just, I love that throne.
00:17She gets her Star Wars throne moment in the underground dinosaur market
00:21and the Lister-saurus.
00:22Yes.
00:23And besides all that, I wanted to ask you both
00:25what you're most excited about seeing back in the film.
00:29I mean, the opening.
00:31The opening.
00:32The opening!
00:33Right?
00:33And the way in which it pays off, the ending.
00:37That small tweak at the end.
00:38Yes.
00:39Yes.
00:39You had to rewind and be like, wait a minute, was that in there?
00:41Yes.
00:42Yes.
00:42I mean, I was always saying, I remember, you know,
00:45Colin is a very transparent director and when they were editing the film,
00:49I was team three hours.
00:51Yes.
00:52Like, I was like, I was like, I mean, people haven't been in the movies
00:55for like two years.
00:57We are combining, you know, Jurassic World and Jurassic Park.
01:00Like, I felt like I was ready to sit in the theater for three hours at least.
01:04So, I'm very happy that, you know, the film that we shot
01:08is the film that people get to see.
01:10Everybody hold on to somebody.
01:12When did you know it was a reality that you were going to get to do the Extended Cut?
01:18Well, very late in the game because the Extended Cut was the movie
01:20until very late in the game.
01:22And then we just reached a point, we were really almost in the mix.
01:25We were in the mix actually and we realized that we needed to make a movie
01:30less than, you know, two and a half hours.
01:32And that, you know, when you're, if anyone wants to be a filmmaker out there,
01:36like, you know, it's just one of those things that's a part of the job.
01:39Like, there's a level of kind of negotiation and collaboration
01:42that needs to happen with, you know, what a studio needs.
01:44Here we have a movie coming out during COVID.
01:46We're not sure if people are going to go back in the theater to see it.
01:48You know, we want to make sure they can, you know, we can get people in
01:52for a streamlined experience.
01:53And so, you know, I had to do something kind of complicated, which is
01:57I had a movie that I had to streamline to a certain amount.
01:59I had to choose what had to go.
02:00I did feel everything was necessary.
02:03And what's different about this is it's not a traditional director's cut.
02:06And it's also not something where we added a bunch of footage.
02:09It's just that we got to go back to that previous file and print it.
02:12It's the little tweaks that really added up to a sort of richer film.
02:17Yes.
02:17They say, you know, they say, like, kill all your children.
02:19Like, when you make a movie, this is all my children, this movie.
02:24See, not so bad.
02:27Again, I loved it theatrically, but it just felt like it maybe moved a
02:31little too quickly in the beginning.
02:32And then once seeing the new cut, it's like that added, like, especially
02:37with Owen and Claire, the added scene after the big Malta chase.
02:40And it's just like, are you okay?
02:41Are you okay?
02:42It's like, wow, there are humans and dinosaurs in this movie.
02:47I'm so happy to hear you say that because that's exactly how I feel.
02:50I watched the extended edition yesterday with my 15-year-old son,
02:55and he's seen Dominion in theaters four times, and he was able to, like,
02:59instantly spot them.
03:01And every single additional moment, additional scene, additional bit of
03:05dialogue, he was like, oh my gosh, this is so meaningful.
03:10I love this.
03:11I love this.
03:11So if you are a fan of Jurassic movies, more is more.
03:17More is more.
03:18Come back.
03:19I always come back.
03:21What was the one piece of the extended edition that you were most excited
03:25to put back in?
03:26Oh, there's a lot of things.
03:27I felt like there were little moments, you know, even a bit of Alan Grant's
03:31performance.
03:31I feel like, I think he actually gets the most, you know, new richness
03:37and new nuance.
03:38I really like that moment.
03:39You know, with Maisie, I like the fact that there's moments when you feel
03:41like the characters are, like, running to catch up with the movie because
03:43it's going to leave without them, you know, and I like the way that that
03:47breathes.
03:47Personally, what was most important to me was the scene with Mamadou
03:51Aché and Louis Dijon played by Campbell Scott, and that scene
03:56really encapsulates a lot of what I wanted to say with that story, and
03:59I really felt it missing, and it's two actors just being incredible
04:03together, and so for me to be able to get that back into the film, that
04:08meant a lot.
04:10Creation is an act of sheer will.
04:14Life will find a way.
04:19So we're obviously coming up on 30 years of Jurassic lore in general,
04:22and there's always been this theme of strong female characters with
04:27Dr. Ellie Sattler, with Sarah Harding, and now with Kayla and with
04:31Claire.
04:32I mean, especially Claire's character just has evolved so wonderfully
04:35through this trilogy, and I'm sorry, Kayla was an MVP from day, from
04:39moment one.
04:39It's just so amazing that these characters are here and
04:43representing so much, and I got to talk to Laura Dern, and I asked
04:47her, you know, what was the best moment of recognition you've had
04:50with people because of that character, and I wanted to throw that
04:52question back to both of you.
04:53Like, what was the best moment of recognition you've had for your
04:56character just being another strong female elite in this increasingly
04:59diverse franchise?
05:01It keeps evolving for me.
05:03I mean, I just, I think from the very moment that the first images of
05:08Kayla Watts dropped online and the reception from the fans, which was
05:11always loving, like they wanted Kayla to be great.
05:14Everyone wanted Kayla to be great, you know, and I don't think you
05:18necessarily get that with every franchise.
05:21It's just such a special, iconic, inclusive, you know, everyone loves
05:26dinosaurs.
05:27Everybody wants you to win.
05:28So I, every step of the way, I continue to have those experiences, and
05:33I look forward to 30 years from now seeing, you know, what comes of
05:37it.
05:37It's very special.
05:38Do you have kids in your life that have seen it and then they come to
05:44you like your nieces and nephews?
05:45Oh girl.
05:46Yes.
05:47Yeah.
05:47I mean getting the, you're going to make me cry under my sunglasses.
05:50Just like, yeah, we can completely edit in post.
05:56No, it's fine.
05:56We're criers.
05:57Everyone knows, common knowledge.
05:59Yeah, getting text message from, you know, my brother, you know, my
06:04niece, just being like, she has Legos.
06:06We grew up on Legos.
06:08You know, we're always playing Lego Barbie.
06:10So, so now, you know, my, my niece Aaliyah now has like an Auntie Lego.
06:15That's wild.
06:16That's wild.
06:18Yeah.
06:18For me, it's, it's been so wonderful to play a character that when you
06:25first meet her, you're basically like, oh, that's the villain and she's
06:27going to get eaten by a dinosaur and then to watch her learn and grow and
06:35yet still make mistakes and then realize that that was a mistake and
06:39then not know what to do, but to know that something needs to be done.
06:42Like I just, I really appreciate the kind of headspace that she's gotten
06:48into in her life and I've noticed because the first movie, when the
06:53first movie came out, it was a lot of like heels, heels, heels and heels
06:56and heels and heels and heels and more heels and heels, heels, heels.
06:59Which is so unfair because you had to train so hard for that.
07:02I talked to Simon Watterson about that.
07:04Those ankles.
07:04No way, you talked to my trainer?
07:06Come on, have some respect about Bryce Vernon.
07:09To be able to do that, holding a flare and a 65 million year old, 30 year old
07:13dinosaur is running behind you.
07:15Yeah.
07:16Yeah.
07:16These are high stakes situations.
07:18And, and I think, I think that the, the way in which this franchise has
07:23evolved, the rich history and legacy that comes with being a, it being a
07:30Michael Crichton story and the kind of the, the more hard hitting sci-fi
07:36elements and the, the moral dilemmas and all of that, you know, it's a
07:41cautionary tale and the ways in which that storytelling has affected
07:47audiences and in particular children, that has been so, so, so incredibly
07:52meaningful to me.
07:52And, and the way in which this character represents a person who can
07:58learn, who can change, who can grow, and, and shows that that doesn't mean
08:02that they're perfect, that they keep trying.
08:04Like, I, I love that.
08:06I really, really, really love that.
08:08And I also love that I depicted a character who can totally outrun a
08:14T-Rex in heels, because I feel like I probably would, so, so I love it.
08:20Where would you like to see the future of Jurassic, the Jurassic
08:23franchise go?
08:24Because it's very open-ended.
08:25Yeah, well, I, you know, whether I, you know, come back or not, it would
08:29only be to help, you know, another filmmaker realize their vision and I
08:33would love to, to, you know, be involved at that level.
08:35And, and yet I think that it's, it's really, I think it's important to
08:38have somebody new because really what I wanted to do with this was take
08:42something that in some ways is unfranchisable, is kind of the same
08:44story every time of dinosaurs on an island that are trying to eat people
08:47and turn it into something that does have a wealth of stories that could
08:50be told, like a world in which dinosaurs exist.
08:52And that's what this was.
08:54It wasn't a plot about dinosaurs.
08:56It was a story about people and about genetic power set in the context
09:00of a world where dinosaurs exist.
09:01And I know that's a shift and I know it's a change, but I do think that's
09:04what's going to make it possible for us to move forward because now, you
09:07know, you tell me, like what, you know, what can happen?
09:11If our world's going to survive, what matters is what we do now.
09:16You coming or what?
09:24Yeah.