One of the...ah...best elements of...um...Jurassic Park was...yes...Jeff Goldblum. OK, we'll knock the impression off. Probably the coolest mathematician ever, all his chat of chaos theory and memorable quotes ("must go faster, must go faster", "life...uh...finds a way") make Ian Malcolm infinitely more interesting that the actual lead, Alan Grant. The Lost World showed that he can't actually work as a protagonist, but that doesn't make him any less awesome as a supporting character. Of course, as has become a trend in this list, he wasn't going to make it off Isla Nublar alive. Following the brilliant T-Rex attack that really throws the film into peril, Malcolm, along with much less likeable lawyer Gennaro, are seemingly killed. That's all pretty much the same as Michael Crichton's source novel, which the earlier drafts of the script stuck very closely to. But then we get a divergence, with it revealed Malcolm was merely knocked unconscious in the Tyrannosaur showdown. It's been stated by those involved in production that most of the secondary characters were considered for the chop at one time or another, but given the precedent in the book it makes Malcom's the closest shave. He was retconned back to life for the book's sequel, but that's mainly because Crichton wrote it the movie had become the then-biggest movie of all time. Do you think any of these characters should have actually died? Which other favourites were almost for the chop? Let us know in the comments below.
