4. Ian Malcolm Represents A Level-Headed Producer
Sometimes, a "visionary" director becomes so huge and influential, they begin to think they can do no wrong. Surrounding themselves with a bunch of yes-men who wouldn't dare challenge their "genius," filmmakers like Lucas have seen their latter work suffer by removing the collaborative aspect of movie making. There was no one there to say, "Midichlorians, George? Are you sure you want to do this?" or, "I know these movies are for families, but don't you think Jar-Jar is taking it one step too far?" Ian Malcolm, the best character in the movie, is the Gary Kurtz to Lucas's John Hammond. Kurtz served as a producer for
Star Wars and
The Empire Strikes Back before leaving
Return of the Jedi due to creative differences (for more on that, click
here). Kurtz had a major impact during production of the first two films, building a strong relationship with the cast and crew and placing a priority on artistic quality. If you read the story I linked, you'll see that if Kurtz had his way,
Jedi would be a completely different movie than the one we know and love today. The point is, no matter how inventive and creative you are as a director, it always helps to have a level-headed producing partner to reel you in and make sure you don't do anything crazy. During the
lunch scene (from a screenwriting perspective, the best in the film), Malcolm's monologue is a perfect representation of a producer trying to reason with his/her director. "Before you even knew what you had, you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox and now you're selling it. You want to sell it," Malcolm says in the tone of a jaded producer upset with the marketing and merchandising of blockbuster films in current Hollywood. Malcolm is that guy who wouldn't be afraid to call Lucas out on Gungans or mock James Cameron's decision to write the word "unobtanium" into the
Avatar screenplay. Spielberg (though he too has had his
less-than-stellar moments) is illustrating that it's always important to have someone like this in your corner. If Hammond had Malcolm around before all the raptors and t-rexes were cloned, maybe none of the chaotic things would have happened.