Credit: Universal Pictures
Jurassic Park Stars ‘Only Now’ Realize Their Age Gap Was ‘Inappropriate’ In First Film
Laura Dern and Sam Neill have reflected on their age gap in Jurassic Park and said they now realize it wasn’t ‘completely appropriate.’
The 1993 blockbuster hit, directed by Steven Spielberg, follows a wealthy businessman and team of genetic scientists who have created a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs.
Dr. Ellie Sattler (played by Dern) and palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Neill) come face to face with the creatures whose remains they’ve been studying.
In the movie, the two fall in love.
Fans adored the duo at the time of the film’s release. However, the characters’ relationship has faced criticism in recent years.
Neill says Dern was at the ‘tender age’ of 23 at the time of her casting, while he was born two decades before her.
He told The Sunday Times: “I am 20 years older than Laura! Which, at the time, was a completely appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady.
“It never occurred to me until I opened a magazine and there was an article called ‘Old geezers and gals.’ People like Harrison Ford and Sean Connery acting with much younger people. And there I was, on the list. I thought, ‘Come on. It can’t be true.'”
Ford appeared alongside Anne Heche in Six Days, Seven Nights when he was 55 and she was 29.
Bond starred alongside Catherine Zeta Jones, 39 years his junior, in Entrapment.
Dern also shared her thoughts on their age difference, saying it felt ‘completely appropriate’ at the time.
“And it was only now, when we returned in a moment of cultural awareness about the patriarchy, that I was, like, ‘Wow! We’re not the same age?'” she said.
The actors reprised their roles in Jurassic World: Dominion, alongside Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, and newer leads Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Speaking of their return, the age gap not withstanding, Dern said: “I can say that it was incredible to be back together.
“It was an amazing thing to join my original cast members and go down memory lane, from that experience in the beginning of a franchise through the whole course of these films together with all the key cast members who have been working on these movies, as well as [director] Colin Trevorrow and Steven Spielberg, who is like family to me.”
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