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Learn about ''Jurassic Park III'' | jurassic_l
DINO SORE The cast of ''JP3'' (including Morgan, Macy, Neill, and Leoni) endured much hardship in their pursuit of the almighty dino
By Liane Bonin
Liane Bonin
Liane Bonin is a senior writer for EW.com

Everyone's favorite overgrown lizards return in ''Jurassic Park 3,'' but it isn't business as usual on Isla Sorna's dino-infested jungles. EW.com's got the behind-the-scenes dirt about the on-set injuries, the constantly changing script, and the movie's new super-sized, super-scaly cast member. But beware! Raptors, T. Rexes -- and SPOILERS ahead.

Will we meet new species of dinosaur?
You betcha. Hello, Spinosaurus -- a burly meat-eater with the snout of a crocodile and a spiny sail on its back. Though there are no Spinosaurus skeletons in existence (the only one ever discovered was bombed to bits during WWII), it's still believed to be the largest meat-eater that ever lived. But to keep audiences guessing when the Spinosaurus faces off against a T. Rex, dino creator Stan Winston decided to downsize the big guy, making the movie's animatronic model 44 feet tall instead of a more realistic 60. ''If he was too much bigger than the T Rex, it wouldn't have been much of a fight,'' Winston tells EW.com. Even so, it wasn't exactly an even match: The movie's Spinosaur was still 6 feet taller and 3 1/2 tons heavier than his opponent. Foul!

Have the velociraptors had ''work'' done? They look different.
Blame science for the makeover. Since the first movie appeared, paleontologists have discovered the first ''Jurassic Park'' didn't get the raptor quite right. ''We've made their coloration more vibrant, and now that we've realized how connected to birds they are, we elongated the nose, gave it more of a point, and added quills,'' says Winston. (Please, no jokes about nose jobs in front of the dinos. They're sensitive.)

Which dinosaurs are animatronic and which are computer generated?
Good question. ''Because the technology has advanced so much, even I can't tell, and I was there,'' says Winston. But if you see a giant eye blinking at you, you can bet it was a puppet doing the flirting. ''We had animatronics for the close-ups,'' says star Trevor Morgan. M''When we were running or jumping, though, they had sticks with electronics coming out of them or pictures of dinosaur heads on big long mop handles. Joe Johnston, the director, would shove them in your face and go 'GRRRRR!' and you had to react to it.'' Now, that's Method acting.

How much did the script change?
Uh...how much time have you got? ''When we started writing it in 1999, it was about five or six teenagers who get marooned on the island,'' groans Johnston. ''I don't think anyone wanted to see that movie. Then there were two other complete versions that we wrote and storyboarded and threw away. Then five weeks before we started shooting the movie, we threw the script out and started over.'' That meant rewriting even while the movie was being shot, which created trouble for the manufacturers of the film's action figures. ''I think the people who made my doll hadn't seen the film,'' says star Alessandro Nivola (''Face/Off''). ''My character is almost pecked to death by Pteranodons, but my doll has a pet Pteranodon that sits on its arm, ready to be fed or something.''

Any accidents on the set?
Nothing serious, but William H. Macy had a close encounter with a potted plant he'll never forget. ''In one scene, I'm supposed to run pell-mell past this big tree, but I forgot that the tree was fake and the pot it was in was hidden by shrubbery,'' says Macy. ''I slammed into the pot so hard Alessandro came out of his trailer and said, 'I think I heard a car accident.' I was smiling and talking to people after that and had no idea where I was.'' Meanwhile, costar Téa Leoni almost slipped off a catwalk while goofing around during a break, scraping her leg and barely avoiding a 40-foot drop.

Will there be a ''Jurassic Park 4''?
Probably, but not what you might expect based on the movie's final shot of Pterodons flying off into the sunset. ''I wanted to end the movie with a shot of these creatures being beautiful and elegant, but it's not actually a set up for the sequel,'' says Johnston. ''I know it looks like they're going off to nest in Vancouver or something, but Steven Spielberg actually has an idea for number four that doesn't involve the Pterodons. It takes the 'Jurassic Park' thing in a whole new direction.'' Hmmmm...


Posted Jul 18, 2001 | Order Article Reprints