Jurassic Park’s Art Director John Bell Posts Unseen Art From The Original Films & Jurassic World!

Jurassic Park had an army of artists that helped shape the visual look of the film. Pre-production began in the summer of 1990, a full three years before its 1993 release date. During that time, the scripts changed pens between different writers, but the art department kept churning out images that didn’t necessarily match anything from them. Ideas were freely explored using Michael Crichton’s novel as the main source, while the artists injected their own personalities.

Leading the art department was Jurassic Park‘s Art Director John Bell, who we interviewed back in 2015. He also worked on the sequels: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park 3, and Jurassic World. Despite his involvement in the franchise beginning almost 30 years ago, there are still many pieces of artwork he created that have yet to see the light of day. There was so much that his team created that it would likely fill an entire library!

That is why we are elated with the new posts John made on his website of previously unseen art from Jurassic Park!

Below are a small sample of what you will see:

His site also features some new amazing artwork from The Lost World: Jurassic Park! The amount of detail and ideas he had for the film’s various vehicles is astounding; including a “life pod” used as protection against big predators such as Tyrannosaurs Rex!

John has also shown, for the first time, artwork he created for Jurassic Park 3! This is especially fascinating to see since Jurassic Park 3 never had a “Making Of” book like the first two films did; leaving insights on its filmmaking process only on DVD/BLU-RAY bonus features, magazine articles, and other websites from those involved. His new page features impressive unused vehicle designs and early versions of the incubators!

And finally, we have additional artwork John created for Jurassic World, or as it was simply known to him at the time as Jurassic Park 4. We now have an incredible look at some of his more futuristic designs meshed with his older ideas for Jurassic Park in a way that would have been incredible to have seen on film!

It’s amazing that after all this time we are still getting never-before-seen material from the older films of this franchise! No matter how any of the films turned out, it goes to show just how much time and effort went into the creation of them. And who knows, maybe more will be seen someday?

In a darkened room, in an empty building with a dirty floor, it waits…

Be sure to visit John Bell’s site for additional art and browse his very own shop where you can buy some of his original work!

Introducing ‘Jurassic World Beyond the Gates’ – Live Now on Target.com!

Something is coming, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to share it with you! Jack De La Mare and I have been hard at work on an exciting partnership with Jurassic World and Target to bring you Beyond the Gates – a new collectors focused web-series where we will be revealing all new Jurassic products, while digging into the DNA that brought the items to life. 

Not too long ago Universal began discussions about this unique collaboration, and we hit the ground running to help design a show format that we hope excites you as much as it does us, from the fans for the fans. Our friends at Universal, Mattel, and Target shared our excitement and helped support us every step along the way as we began to play in this expansive Jurassic toybox, creating this little show. 

We were given the keys, and a chance to not only to take the Jeep and drive – but to custom design it from the ground up. We worked with a handful of talented artists – including  Lukas Vagt, Matt Henderson and Caleb Burnett – to support hatching the series, and evolve Beyond The Gates from concept to reality. This collaborative process has been a dream, and every party involved has been crucial in bringing this vision to life. 

Today (February 17th) the first episode of Beyond the Gates made its debut exclusively on Target.com, with subsequent episodes to follow the third week of every month. Every episode feature your first look at all-new, upcoming Jurassic World reveals – and upon their reveal, they will become available for pre-order directly at Target.com. 

Universal and ourselves not only want to use Beyond the Gates to share exclusive official content, but also to better inform the fans and collectors what is coming, when it will be available, while giving them a reliable way to secure those items for their collection before those opportunities go extinct. On top of that, we wanted to use this opportunity to let you hear directly from the masterminds who helped design the toys while taking a look at the development and evolution of the items via concept art,  prototypes, and more! 

The first episode of Beyond the Gates is here, and features a look at two long anticipated Amber Collection dinosaurs from the original Jurassic  Park trilogy, accompanied by the expertise of Mattel’s own Chandra Hicks.

Watch now at Target.com!

If you’ve seen episode 1, and are looking for our ‘After Show‘ — stay tuned! We’ve hit the ground running on this project, and that one is coming in hot. As for what to expect, we’ll take a longer look at the Amber Collection reveals, hear more from Mattel’s Chandra Hicks, while showing off more concept art and early looks at the development of these toys!

We wanted to thank Universal Pictures for being so accommodating and entrusting us to help create this fan-focused show. We have so much more to come, and can’t wait  to show you more of what waits BEYOND THE GATES.

Jurassic World: Dominion’s Pandemic Production Inspires A Netflix Comedy In Judd Apatow’s “The Bubble”

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.

(Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

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)

Sam Neill On Jurassic World: Dominion Feeling Like A “Six-Hour Movie” Plus More About Grant & Sattler

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!