{"id":678438,"date":"2025-07-03T17:30:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/jurassic-world-rebirth-writer-on-how-he-kept-the-franchise-from-going-extinct\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T17:30:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:30:28","slug":"jurassic-world-rebirth-writer-on-how-he-kept-the-franchise-from-going-extinct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/jurassic-world-rebirth-writer-on-how-he-kept-the-franchise-from-going-extinct\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Jurassic World Rebirth\u2019 Writer on How He Kept the Franchise From Going Extinct"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThe Jurassic<\/em> franchise was, clearly, ready for a new era. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe previous Jurassic World<\/em> film, 2022\u2019s Dominion<\/em>, garnered the weakest reviews and poorest box office of the sequel trilogy (though still managed to top $1 billion). Some thought Universal\u2019s dino franchise might be put into cryo storage for a decade. But executive producer Steven Spielberg wasn\u2019t ready to let his creation go extinct, and tapp<\/a>ed his longtime go-to screenwriter David Koepp to design a new adventure in the saga \u2014 Jurassic World Rebirth<\/em>, which opens this week and stars Scarlett Johansson as a mercenary seeking to retrieve some dino blood samples on a forgotten island that has ties to the original <\/em>park.<\/p>\n

\n\tKoepp co-wrote the beloved 1993 first film (based on Michael Crichton\u2019s bestseller) and penned its sequel, 1997\u2019s The Lost World: Jurassic Park<\/em>. His other credits include 1996\u2019s Mission: Impossible<\/em> (and has quite an entertaining idea for a new sequel for that franchise, as you\u2019ll read below), 2002\u2019s Spider-Man<\/em>, 2002\u2019s Panic Room<\/em>, 2005\u2019s War of the Worlds<\/em>, and the last two Indiana Jones<\/em> films.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpend a few minutes chatting with the bespectacled 62-year-old industry veteran, and you understand why the world\u2019s most acclaimed director has worked with him on roughly a dozen projects. Koepp comes across affable, clever and pragmatically flexible to the sometimes frustrating needs of the industry. But he\u2019s also perfectly blunt about what he thinks will work in a story \u2014 or won\u2019t \u2014 as well as his own limitations. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can only go with what works for me,\u201d Koepp says. \u201cWhat it works or doesn\u2019t for others, that doesn\u2019t matter. You have to be sincere \u2026 You can only write what you can write.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tSo you rewatched all the Jurassic<\/em> movies<\/a> to prepare for this. What did that tell you in terms of what works and what doesn\u2019t work, in this franchise?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhat I was struck by was that every three movies there\u2019s an opportunity to change the tone, characters and ideas. The first Jurassic Park<\/em> was an incredible feat of imagination. All these movies exist because Michael Crichton had a genius idea, right? The first Jurassic World<\/em>, okay, that was also a great imagining. So this felt like a license to start with new people and a tone I was comfortable with.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut what was more important was I re-read both of Crichton\u2019s novels\u00a0\u2014 Jurassic Park<\/em> and The Lost World<\/em>. Because I was like, \u201cHow am I going to come up with stuff that feels new? I\u2019ve done this twice, but it\u2019s been a while.\u201d When I re-read the books, I was like, \u201cOh, I remember this feeling.\u201d The books are different in tone than the movie Jurassic Park<\/em> because Crichton\u2019s and Spielberg are very different people with different worldviews. [With Jurassic Park<\/em>], we did something that was not quite as dark, and certainly hoped it was funny and but still had to be grounded in real science<\/a>. As I was rereading the novels, I started taking tons of notes, because I was like: It\u2019s all still here.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo Rebirth<\/em> feels like: Let\u2019s get away from dinosaurs in the real world, and get away from forgetting that dinosaurs are mostly scary monsters, and get away from the idea that velociraptors are your buddies that you go biking with. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I felt like in the in the last film, in particular, they took that idea all the way. Dinosaurs were nesting on the Chrysler Building and renting apartments downtown. I didn\u2019t have a single idea about where to go with that. But I wanted to respect what occurred in the first six movies, because I hate when you watch a franchise movie and they gaslight you and say, \u201cNo, that never happened.\u201d Or, \u201cThat was a timeline.\u201d I hate that shit. So I said, \u201cNo, that all happened, but I want to make them special again. How do we do that?\u201d I wanted us to be back in their environment instead of them in ours.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen, in re-reading the books, I found the perfect justification. There\u2019s a great speech which I just popped into the script, which was that we think these things are going to live here now, but we forget that this is a different planet. Our landscape is completely different except this narrow band where the environment is somewhat similar to what it used to be [where dinosaurs can survive]. So let\u2019s make dinosaurs exotic and special so that we have to go seek them out instead of, you know, fighting with them over a cab.<\/p>\n

\n\tSure, but to give credit where it\u2019s due, you<\/em> introduced the idea of dinosaurs coming into our world with the ending of Jurassic Park 2<\/em>, when the T. Rex shows up in San Diego. But also to your credit, you only gave us a brief taste of what that would be like.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, once you have a T. Rex drinking out of your pool and eating your dog, there\u2019s not much more you can do. <\/p>\n

\n\tOne thing I liked in Rebirth<\/em> is the movie isn\u2019t overly interested in expanding the franchise mythology. There\u2019s a small percentage of moviegoers who geek out on those details, but most just want a good story where you can stay present and not have to think about random callbacks or heavy exposition. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe working title of the script was Survival<\/em>. I wanted to keep my eye very much on that with every single character fighting to survive once they get to the island. And the animals, of course, are fighting to survive. So when you got that going for you, don\u2019t need to goose it. These are people trying to not die. That\u2019s a big story.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of the title, I was really curious about this: Did you consider calling the film Jurassic Park Rebirth<\/em> instead of Jurassic World Rebirth<\/em>? Because you\u2019re obviously trying to resurrect of the spirit of the first film and the story has much closer story ties to the original franchise than the World<\/em> movies<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat would have been a great idea. Where were you? I thought maybe we should have a whole new name, you know, Jurassic Era<\/em>, something like that. But [choosing the title] was above my pay grade. There are corporate destinies at stake.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tJurassic World Rebirth screenwriter David Koepp<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoe Maher\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe idea of people don\u2019t care about dinosaurs anymore is also in the film and it seems almost like a meta commentary on trying to relaunch the franchise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI think they also used that first in the first or second Jurassic World<\/em> movie too, where they were making gigantic, weird things, because there was idea inflation. So yeah, it\u2019s a little meta. But all these movies are. In the first Jurassic Park<\/em>, there\u2019s a shot that pans lovingly over the dinosaur pajamas and Jurassic Park<\/em> lunch boxes in the visitors center \u2014 that was actual merchandise that was going to come from the movie. There is a circularity to writing a movie about theme park people.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat reminds me of my favorite shot in Jurassic Park<\/em>. The CG shot of a velociraptor where there are 1s and 0s reflected on its head from a computer screen below. It evokes not only their genetic creation origins, but also how Jurassic Park <\/em>was the dawn of the digital age of filmmaking, all in one shot. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOh, that had that aspect hasn\u2019t occurred to me, but yeah.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpielberg was apparently heavily involved in <\/strong>Rebirth<\/strong><\/em>. It does surprise me a bit that at this point in his career \u2014 and with everything else he\u2019s working on \u2014 that he would still get out of bed for a Jurassic<\/em> movie. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve done 10 or 12 movies with Steven over the years, and I think his favorite part is making them up. The part where you say, \u201cHey, do you think it would be cool if\u2026\u201d That\u2019s the part where I still find him so engaged, whether it\u2019s a movie he\u2019s directing or not. So I get why he would want to \u2014 because these are fun. He and I enjoy working together. He the one who started this [franchise]. It\u2019s his. So I think he felt a certain care and responsibility to ask, \u201cHow can this go on? What would make it really good?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was important to Steven to have in the film? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat it should be scary. We should see some things that we\u2019ve never seen before. Let\u2019s make the science as close to real as we can. And something that is important to him with everything \u2014 but in this movie in particular \u2014 he really wanted to avoid anything that was a self reference. He does not like to quote himself. He\u2019s allergic to it. If you put something in that rings too familiar, he\u2019ll say, \u201cDidn\u2019t I already do that? Don\u2019t do that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s interesting as there\u2019s a sequence with your heroes on a boat where they\u2019re hunting a dinosaur that definitely has Jaws<\/em> vibes. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMaybe a little. But it doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s redoing anything from Jurassic<\/em>. Steven had the idea of, \u201cWhat if a Mosasaurus was depleting fishing grounds?\u201d Then we ran with the idea. But what I loved was this you wouldn\u2019t expect is a 25-minute sea going adventure in the middle of this movie. I felt like it was kind of Creature from the Black Lagoon<\/em> \u2014 a bunch of people on a boat go looking for something weird. I find that sequence exhilarating. It\u2019s beautifully shot and acted, and gorgeous to look at. It had scope and awe \u2014 which was another thing that was important to Steven to recapture, if possible. Because there are moments where you feel moved by how beautiful dinosaurs are, and that they\u2019re majestic, but we can\u2019t forget they should also be very scary and sometimes want to eat us. <\/p>\n

\n\tI remember seeing that original film as a kid and thinking, \u201cThat was amazing, but I can\u2019t believe they didn\u2019t have the raft scene from the book.\u201d So it\u2019s no surprise that\u2019s my favorite sequence in the new film. That had to be satisfying to finally get to add that<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou know when you have to sneeze and you can\u2019t? I\u2019ve had that feeling for 32 years about the raft scene. In the first movie, Steven and I had talked about it. I think he\u2019d storyboarded it. And I had put it in the very first draft. It quickly had to get dropped because it didn\u2019t quite fit the structure, and it definitely didn\u2019t fit the budget. Also, in 1992, doing CG water was still really hard. Showing a T. Rex in the first place was going to be groundbreaking, and nobody knew if we could do it or not. Doing a T. Rex swimming was off the table right away. So it was enormously satisfying to put that in. When I wrote it for this movie, I was almost just transcribing what\u2019s in the book, because it\u2019s a perfect scene.<\/p>\n

\n\tScarlett Johansson did a great job. So I read the character was originally written to be gender neutral? (Director Gareth Edwards suggested this in an interview<\/a>).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNo, she was always a woman. What self-respecting writer would write: \u201cA character \u2014 and I can\u2019t tell you what kind of person she is\u201d? You gotta make some<\/em> choices. But yeah, she was great. I try not to think about actors when I\u2019m writing the early drafts. But I didn\u2019t dare to think of her anyway because she\u2019s a very popular actress. She the only person we talked to, and urgently wanted to do it. She also had some really savvy notes, which I was happy to implement. She\u2019s so comfortable with the action and running and sliding and screaming and looking scared and being mad \u2014 all things that you have to do that are hard<\/em> in these movies. You have to be physically capable. My favorite moment of hers is she\u2019s rappelling down a cliff, and she zips into the frame and says, \u201cIt\u2019s fun, isn\u2019t it?\u201d and then keeps zipping out of frame.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat were couple of her notes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI wish I had something great to offer but I can\u2019t remember specifically. But when a good actor comes in, they behave like their character\u2019s lawyer. They say, \u201cI don\u2019t believe my client would do that,\u201d or, \u201cMy client is underrepresented in this portion.\u201d And you\u2019re like, \u201cYou\u2019re right, for 14 pages I kind of forgot about her.\u201d Then you go through and you do a draft looking at it solely from that character\u2019s point of view. It really liberates you, because you\u2019re not balancing everybody\u2019s needs, you\u2019re just thinking about that one character. I felt like her character got a lot better. <\/p>\n

\n\tWithout giving away any spoilers, it\u2019s fair to say the film\u2019s ending doesn\u2019t leave you with a cliffhanger to set up a new trilogy. I liked that it was very, \u201cHere\u2019s the end. If we do more, we\u2019ll let you know.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat was a specific conversation we had. Do we need to throw to the future in this? I thought occasionally about planting a little something here or there that might be helpful. But honestly, it\u2019s a bad idea to do that, and they\u2019re the first things to [get cut from a script] if they\u2019re remotely in the way. It is so hard to make one good movie \u2014 speaking as someone who\u2019s both succeeded and failed at making a good movie. There are so many ways to go awry. Thinking about the future is like the dumbest thing you can do. So it was: Let\u2019s make this work. If it works, people will like it. And then maybe there can be another one.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoing back to the first movie, two famous changes in the original film from the book is that both Ian Malcom and John Hammond live. I always thought Hammond arguably should have died. But curious, as the writer, did you agree with both those changes or were they Spielberg\u2019s?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI was in favor of both those. When we started discussing our tone at the very beginning, we decided our Hammond is a bit more of Walt Disney than the more selfish, dark character that he is in the book. You can kill him in the book because he\u2019s got it coming. The character in the movie is misguided. The worst thing he does is he\u2019s a bit doddering. Ian Malcolm I was never going to kill, because I love that guy. He\u2019s so useful \u2014 funny and smart and carries the science.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re also the writer on Steven\u2019s intriguing new UFO project. What can you tease about that one? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI can say that we\u2019re going with a really snazzy title, Untitled<\/em>, at the moment. It comes out in June. That\u2019s all I\u2019m supposed to say.<\/p>\n

\n\tOkay, let me ask this then: Did the events depicted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/em> also occur in the world of this film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tLike I\u2019m going to answer that. Sorry Woodward! You\u2019re trying to trick me into confirming something that I don\u2019t want to confirm. <\/p>\n

\n\tFair enough. You also have the sci-fi movie Cold Storage<\/em> coming up (which stars Liam Neeson, Joe Kerry and Georgina Campbell and is about security guards trying to stop a deadline fungus before it destroys humanity). <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat I can talk about that. It\u2019s based on the first novel I wrote. Comes out in February. I think it turned out wonderfully and I\u2019m very happy with it. It\u2019s horror movie that\u2019s very funny and rather sweet \u2014 that\u2019s a hard balance to hit. But the director, Jonny Campbell, and the terrific cast really got it.<\/p>\n

\n\tIndiana Jones<\/em> franchise. That\u2019s done, right? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I don\u2019t see it continuing. Everybody made it pretty clear. Harrison was like, [Harrison Ford impression<\/em>] \u201cYeah, I\u2019m done.\u201d So it would need to be somebody\u2019s brand new idea about how to come at that. I\u2019d watch it as a streaming show. Streaming is perfectly suited to a serial adventure, which is what Indiana Jones was. He could have a season-long goal and you don\u2019t have to wrap up the story every week like with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles<\/em>. But I think their plan is to just let it be for a while. <\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of being done: Tom Cruise<\/strong> suggests he\u2019s done with<\/strong> Mission: Impossible<\/em>. You co-wrote the first movie. What do you think Paramount should do with that franchise? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThis is something [the first film\u2019s director, Brian De Palma] and I have talked about. I know exactly<\/em> what they should do, and I would be happy to write it. I think that they should make a film with Tom playing that character that opens with a great, big extended action sequence. He gets himself in a terrible pickle. He fell off a rocket. How\u2019s he gonna get out of this one? He\u2019s falling to Earth. He\u2019s pulling out Swiss Army knives. He\u2019s spreading his skin out to slow his fall. Doing all sorts of clever things. But it\u2019s all for naught because he smashes into the ground and dies<\/em>. The film ends. It\u2019s a 16-minute film. <\/p>\n

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