See The 'Jurassic World' T-Rex, Director Colin Trevorrow Comments On Trailer
The Jurassic World trailer showed us quite a bit, but one thing we didn't see was one of the series' signature dinosaurs: the Tyrannosaurus Rex. As a follow-up to that trailer release, however, the film's official website has launched, and with it comes the first look at the film's T-rex. Granted, it looks like, well, a T-rex. And what we see is merely a pair of CG renders of the beast. But that's better than nothing. At the same time, director Colin Trevorrow has provided some commentary on the trailer, and his explanation of a few different points will definitely be of interest to fans who have questions about the new film. See the Jurassic World T-rex images below, along with some talk from the director.
First, here's the Jurassic World T-rex, via the official site.
And then, via Empire, we have some comments from Colin Trevorrow about the trailer and the film. There's a lot more at Empire; we've just picked up a couple of specific quotes from the director.
The Gyrosphere
Where did the gyrosphere come from? "Steven [Spielberg] loves theme park rides," Trevorrow explains. "He wanted to create a way for people to get up close and personal with the animals, to make it a self-driving, free-roaming experience. It loads on a track, but once you're out there, you actually get to navigate around the valley. ... I see no way any of that could go wrong."
That last line is, as anyone who has seen the trailer knows, meant to be serious sarcasm.
The Aquatic Feeding
Most people who've seen the trailer see the scene above as a nod to Jaws. But that wasn't the point, or that wasn't entirely the point, at least.
It wasn't intended that way, however obvious it seems. The idea came out in one of our first meetings – I didn't know if Steven and Frank [Marshall, producer on all the Jurassic Park movies] had considered an underwater reptile, so I pitched the mosasaurus and went off on the idea. I thought it would be cool if we had this massive animal and the park used one of our most fearsome modern predators as food. There could be a whole other facility where they used shark DNA to mass-produce them to feed the bigger beast. Steven gave me this look like, 'You know I get it, right?' And I sunk a little lower in my chair. And then he said, 'Let's do it'.
It's a bonkers idea, but I'm comfortable going to Crazytown, because I used to live there when I was a kid. Children have a creative fearlessness that I envy. If you've seen my first movie [sci-fi dramedy, Safety Not Guaranteed], you can see that I don't mind embarrassing myself sometimes. As a result, my working relationship with Steven can feel like that Saturday Night Live sketch, Laser Cats. I walk in with so much confidence, then I look in the mirror and I'm wearing a tinfoil helmet. Half the time I feel like an amateur, and half the time he says, 'No, wear the helmet. The helmet works.'
The Genetically-Modified Dinosaur
Perhaps the element of the trailer that has generated the most commentary is the bit that points out that a genetically-modified dinosaur will be a big part of the film. Reactions have ranged from "didn't they see the first movie?" to "why not use all these other cool real-world dinosaurs?" Indeed, Trevorrow gets it.
There is no shortage of awesome dinosaurs. We could have populated this entire story with new species that haven't been in any of these movies. But this new creation is what gave me a reason to tell another Jurassic Park story. We have the most awe-inspiring creatures to ever walk the earth right in front of us, but for some reason that's not enough. We're not entertained. We're always hungry for the next thing, and those who profit from it are always looking to feed that hunger. The focus groups want something bigger than a T-Rex. And that's what they get. ... We may see little pieces of her as we get closer – in fact, we already have – but I'm confident that we can keep much of that animal under wraps. She's not the only danger. Far from it.
Riding With Raptors
The most eye-popping shot of the trailer sees Chris Pratt's character charging through the jungle on a motorcycle, flanked by velociraptors. They seem to be working together — or, at least, the raptors aren't attacking Pratt. So what's up there?
I like that people aren't sure what the hell they're looking at. I was concerned about putting this image in an early trailer, but I love that people are as excited about it as they are. It just reinforces that we all want to see something fresh. Those familiar homage shots in our trailer kind of mask how different this movie is from the others, and I'm relieved that people are embracing the new ideas.
Owen's relationship with the raptors is complicated. They aren't friends. These animals are nasty and dangerous and they'll bite your head off if you make the wrong move. But there are men and women out there today who have forged tenuous connections with dangerous predators. That's interesting territory to me.