Jurassic Park 4 News

The very lastest update on Jurassic Park 4, including interviews, pictures and rumours. Please feel free to email me with anything that you may have and I'll put it up on this page.

Jurassic Park 4 To Film This Year

July 10, 2007

"Hold on to your butts": The long-in-development "Jurassic Park IV" is finally heading to the big screen, actress Laura Dern told MTV News.

"It is happening. Rumor has it my character Ellie Sattler may be back in the woods, back on the island," Dern announced, saying the movie will hit theaters in 2008. She added with a coy smile, "You know, there is a guy I know who told me he wants me to have something to do with it. So, I have a date with a dinosaur again. My 5-year-old will be thrilled."

A fourth installment of the popular adventure franchise has been in the works since "Jurassic Park III" opened to mixed reviews but high box-office receipts in 2001. Screenwriters as diverse as John Sayles and recent Oscar winner William Monahan ("The Departed") have been attached to write "IV." While rumored to be dissatisfied with various scripts, director and producer Steven Spielberg has continued to staunchly support "Jurassic Park III" helmer Joe Johnston, whom he called in a 2006 interview with SpielbergFilms.com the "go-to 'Jurassic' guy" and the "right guy to do the fourth one."

But apparently Johnston isn't "the right guy" to direct the sequel. When reached for comment, representatives for the director were adamant that Johnston is "definitely not directing 'Jurassic Park IV'." So who will direct the fiercely awaited sequel?

Laughing, Dern suggested a candidate some might consider a little outside the box. "I don't know if he is in talks with them or not, but maybe David Lynch should direct it just to kind of shake things up a little bit. That would make it kind of interesting and unique," the 40-year-old actress said of her longtime collaborator. "I don't know who - I just hope it's as irreverent as Steven has always wanted them to be."

According to Dern, those tones of irreverence and humor are of paramount importance to the success of any "Jurassic Park" film. "I think the more irreverent and hilarious that they can be would be good," Dern said. "Hopefully there are very funny writers working on it, because whenever it got funny and irreverent, I thought that was really good news." While Dern was confident the film was "just around the corner," the "Jurassic Park" veteran paleobotanist hasn't actually seen a completed script, nor does she know where the story might be headed. "I know nothing else except that it is happening," she insisted.

So what would Dern like to see? Why, dinosaurs that were less fierce, of course. "I've never really liked them very much. They were never really nice to me - it's not like it was a party on that island!" Dern joked. "But the sick triceratops from the first film was sweet. So maybe a nice herd of triceratops that I could ride or something. Riding a dinosaur would be a lot of fun."

Calls to reps for series stars Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill were not returned by press time.

Jurassic Park 4 To Film Next Year

February 24, 2006

Steven Spielberg is set to begin filming 'Jurassic Park 4' next year, says Ananova.

According to producer Frank Marshall, the script has been finalised. "It has a good script now, so we should have that one up and running next year, for release in 2008." The character of Lexie, the granddaughter of Sir Richard Attenborough's character, will take the lead in the new film.

April 11, 2005

Dark Horizons has posted an update on Jurassic Park 4 taken from an interview with special effects guru Stan Winston which appeared in Cinemania magazine:

"It's definitely going ahead. There will be a Jurassic Park IV. We're all very excited at the prospect of working together again, because doing a Jurassic movie is like a big family reunion. Everyone pretty much knows everyone else, so it's a lot of fun. I also enjoy the challenge of once again raising the bar and bringing the world something extraordinary.

Admittedly things have somewhat slowed on the development of the film, as Steven [Spielberg] wasn't very enthused with the first couple of screenplay drafts. I think he felt neither of them balanced the science and adventure elements effectively. It's a tough compromise to reach, as too much science will make the movie too talky, but too much adventure will make it seem hollow. So we're sort of on hold at the moment, just waiting for the written word to be in place, and then it's full steam ahead, baby!" Stay tuned for possibly more news on the movie down the road.

November 10, 2002

Universal Pictures have announced that they are going forward on the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise.

The official plot is being kept under wraps, but what we do know is that Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy are back on board producing the film. As if yet, no director has yet been named, as for now the film will be overseen by production president Mary Parent and production VP Tim O'Hair.

In related news, Cinema Confidential was the first to report that Universal Pictures has tapped William Monahan to write the script for the fourth Jurassic Park film.

Sam Neill slipped out a possible plotline for the fourth Jurassic Park while in Qeenstown, New Zealand when asked about JP4. Neill replied, "Yeah, Steven Spielberg and his people are quite busy prepping another one. There is a chance you'll see me in it. I'm as surprised as anyone, because I didn't think there was any way they could get Alan Grant involved again. But they came up with a clever idea. Steven just blew me away with the story....something frightnening is happening concerning those dinosaurs that doesn't necessarily bode well for us humans. Scientists never seem to learn".

What sort of tone can we expect in this film? "You know that feeling when you first saw the original film, and you were so in awe," Neill continued. "We felt so swept away and mesmerised by the sheer majesty of it all? I believe this premise has the potential to elicit that same kind of response. Out of all the concepts that've been created for these movies, this is possibly my favorite."