Month: February 2021

Thanks to Collider & The Hollywood Reporter, we have discovered a very strange result of Jurassic World: Dominion‘s production during the pandemic: apparently it’s rife for comedy.

If you weren’t aware, the film’s production was halted at the start of the pandemic last year. When filming resumed, it was under a much stricter regiment than any of the film’s cast and crew had likely ever been part of. They were all forced to quarantine with each other at the UK production location and… well everyone’s seen The Shining, right? Perhaps no one chased anybody with an axe (that we’re aware of), but you can imagine the dread of isolation mixed with plenty of COVID tests. Not sure which would be scarier.

Apparently, an unnamed member of Jurassic World: Dominion‘s production told all the delicious details of the quarantine to actress Leslie Mann (Cable Guy, This Is 40). She just happens to be the wife of comedy writer/producer/director icon Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Freaks & Geeks, Undeclared), who of course also heard what she had been told. Well, something went off in Judd’s mind that led him to believe the situation was funny enough to be made into a Netflix comedy.

The film is titled: The Bubble. No doubt it is in reference to the bubble everyone was forced to be in during the production. Directing from a script Judd co-wrote with Pam Brady (Hamlet 2), the film has an impressive all-star cast, featuring:

Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Wonder Woman 1984), Karen Gillan (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle), Maria Bakalova (Borat 2), Fred Armisen (SNL, Anchorman), David Duchovny (X-Files, Twin Peaks), Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Shaun Of The Dead), and Keegan-Michael Key (Toy Story 4, Parks & Recreation). Leslie Mann will also star, along with her daughter Iris Apatow (This Is 40, Love, Funny People).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be about a fictional film production where:

“Gillan and Pascal will play the made-up franchise’s stars while Mann and Duchovny will play a once-married acting duo now forced to quarantine under one roof. Netflix insiders, however, say the movie has no connection to Dominion.”

While neither the story nor the cast are directly related to any of the Jurassic films, it is interesting to note that David Duchovny was once married to Jurassic Park 3 actress Téa Leoni (Amanda Kirby) from 1997-2014. The fact that he is playing part of a “once-married acting duo now forced to quarantine under one roof” is already amusing just by knowing this fact alone. While no one from Jurassic World: Dominion was ever married to one another (as far as I can investigate), Laura Dern (Ellie Sattler) and Jeff Goldblum (Ian Malcolm) were once engaged between 1995-1997. Could Mann and Duchovny’s characters be inspired by some uncomfortable scenarios between Dern and Goldblum? The fire is stoked!

While there is no release date yet set for Judd Apatow’s new comedy, The Bubble, rest assured we will be curious to see just how much is real and just how much is simply good, tasty fiction.

(Some information obtained from IMDB)

In Variety’s new article, Sam Neill (Alan Grant) reveals a juicy comment about the length and scope of the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion film:

“It’s going be a big film. [Director] Colin Trevorrow has that childlike sense of wonder, playfulness and inventiveness that [Steven] Spielberg has. We really shot a six-hour movie. We were all very gung-ho.”

Before you start spreading the news that Jurassic World: Dominion will be a six-hour movie, let’s remember that this film has had a lengthy and unusual production, which Neill touches on later in the article:

“No one knew whether ‘Jurassic’ would continue, be postponed or be abandoned altogether […] [When we resumed] it was somewhere between rehab, summer camp and Easter break. We were compulsorily in each other’s company and much richer for it. If we were shooting in L.A., we’d go off to our different caves every night, but we got to know each other so much better.”

Given the delays and incredible circumstances, it is quite easy for everyone on the production to feel like they had made such a long film. As any Jurassic fan will also tell you, things always end up on the cutting room floor as a film is shaped into its final form. However, given the scope of this “big” film and his statement, this could mean Jurassic World: Dominion will likely be the longest film of the series. And on the chance Neill is being entirely literal, then will we see the film split in two, ala Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame? It’s entirely possible.

The article also lightly touches upon Neill’s character of Alan Grant and the relationship (or lack of) between him and Ellie Sattler (performed by Laura Dern):

“[Alan Grant is the] same character, but different world, different times. Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler haven’t seen each other for some time, so you’ll see how that pans out.”

This likely nixes the fan theories of Grant and Sattler somehow ending up together before the start of the film. At the beginning of Jurassic Park 3, it was clear that Grant and Sattler did not stay together or raise their own family as it was set up to happen in the first Jurassic Park. This creative choice on the franchise’s story upset many fans, but director/co-writer Colin Trevorrow appears to not be retconning it for Jurassic World: Dominion based on Neill’s comment. Still, there is a chance that the story of the new film could play out in favor of what fans wanted all along, or perhaps it really will stick to what some consider as a realistic endgame of their relationship.

More information leads to more questions than answers about the story and length of Jurassic World: Dominion. Given that we have over a year to wait for this epic installment of the series, expect more tantalizing details to come!

Check out the rest of Variety’s article for more details about filming during the pandemic and Sam Neill’s new film, Rams!