20 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Jurassic Park Franchise
18. Crichtons Screenplay Didnt Make The Cut
Crichtons first inklings of what would become Jurassic Park emerged as a concept for a screenplay in which a scientist managed to recreate a dinosaur. The idea soon morphed into a fully-fledged novel, and Universal forked out $1.5 million for the film rights before Jurassic Park was even published. Michael Crichton was paid an additional $500,000 to write the first draft of the screenplay. While penning Westworld and The Great Train Robbery among others had familiarised Crichton with the medium, he struggled to translate his cautionary tale of the perils of scientific overreach into a movie suitable for all ages. Malia Scotch Marmo, whod already worked with Spielberg on Hook, also tried her hand at adapting Jurassic Park before David Koepp came aboard. Koepp, whose work on Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible would make him one of Hollywoods most celebrated screenwriters, made several key changes, including transforming Park founder John Hammond from a sinister heel into a genial father figure and excising the grisly deaths of several key characters. And its encouraging to hear that the Jurassic World script has Koepps seal of approval:
Im very excited I read a couple of drafts of their scripts and thought it was terrific. I think that its gonna be great, I cant wait.
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