There was some early trepidation aboutColin Trevorrow’s hiring to directJurassic World. The director’s only feature film credit wasSafety Not Guaranteed, a small film with an equally small cast and budget, and here he was helming the next sequel in one of the most significant franchises of all time. But he hadSteven Spielberg’s blessing, and — whatever your opinion — the box office numbers show he got the job done. But even though he was in the driver’s seat, what exactly was Spielberg’s influence on the picture?
During a conversation with Lucasfilm PresidentKathleen Kennedy, producerFrank Marshall, and Spielberg forTHR, the director explained his exact duties.
“I was very involved in breaking the story, working on the script with [Trevorrow] and [writerDerek Connolly]. I was not on the set, but I watched dailies every day. If I felt something about the dailies, I would send a note to Colin directly. But Colin was doing a great job; you could tell by the rushes. I didn’t even find Colin, Frank did.”
Spielberg later added that Trevorrow wouldn’t have landed theJurassic Worldgig if it wasn’t for the final moments ofSafety Not Guaranteed.
“Had that [time] machine not worked, Colin would not have directedJurassic World. Colin was a fan of all theJurassicmovies. And he spoke so much like a moviemaker, not like an essayist. I’ve heard a lot of people talking about movies in very analytical ways, and some of that is impressive and some of that is just analytical. But Colin spoke about the audience and what it felt like to be in the movie theater watching theJurassicmovies. And then he took the other approach of talking about structure and how he would tell the story. And he basically sold himself to me in the room.”
Even thought Trevorrow isn’t returning to helm theJurassic Worldsequel (he’s busy with a little thing calledStar Wars: Episode IX), the stage is already set. Universal Pictures ChairmanDonna Langleysaidat the end of last yearthat Trevorrow and Spielberg had ideas for “the next two movies, actually. It was designed as a trilogy, unbeknown to us.”
StarsChris PrattandBryce Dallas Howardare returning forJurassic World 2, which is scheduled for a release onJune 22, 2018. Trevorrowwill collaboratewith directorJ.A. Boyanaon a story he previouslyteasedwould focus on what would happen if other organizations around the world were able to replicate the dinosaur-creation formula.
