Author: Maggie Rachael

It’s official: we now have a release date for the third film in the Jurassic World franchise! Set to be released on June 11, 2021, this third film has fans everywhere excited. However, the announcement of a third film begs one very large, very important question:

Who’s going to direct it?

Who can bring about those classic Jurassic Park sensibilities and inject those intense elements that fans love so dearly, while still putting their own mark on the film? By no means is directing a franchise of such a large caliber an easy job, but there are many directors out there who have proved that they are more than capable of reining in a few wayward dinos (and a few more wayward actors).

But, it takes something special to create a truly unique film that appeals to everybody, and with the clear sign that diverse movies sell well, it’s high time that the directors and stars of a franchise as big as Jurassic World change to reflect the vast fanbase.

So, we present (in no particular order), a list of five diverse, talented people I believe would serve the Jurassic franchise well:

Ava DuVernay

Arguably the biggest name on this list, DuVernay is one of the spearheads of a new era of Hollywood blockbusters: those that are diverse, and tell diverse stories. And that’s exactly what the Jurassic franchise needs. While we’ve always had women at the forefronts of these tales, and they’re certainly not just there to look pretty, bringing someone like DuVernay in could open up endless opportunities to put people of color in the spotlight in one of the biggest film franchises in history. From the success of films like Black Panther, it’s clear that diverse films sell, and it feels like it’s time for the Jurassic franchise to catch up.

Projects like Selma prove that DuVernay has the determination and the intense ardor needed to create a great film, as well as tell a story that it is far more than what it seems to be on the surface. DuVernay is devoted to creating a n entire experience within her films – an admirable quality that gives her a seat at the table of Hollywood’s best contemporary directors.

And of course, the director’s previous work shows excellent examples of the whimsy and nostalgia that everyone feels when they watch (or rewatch) the original Jurassic Park – just look at what we’re expecting to see from A Wrinkle in Time. DuVernay tells very human stories while balancing it with the magic we all want to feel, and could bring something totally different to Jurassic World 3 that would change the game entirely.

Karyn Kusama

Having won awards from both the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals for her films, Karyn Kusama certainly has the experience necessary to helm a Jurassic film with the poise and determination it takes to make a great film.

Her work on the horror-comedy Jennifer’s Body is highly underrated, and like DuVernay, Kusama is a woman of color who could bring a much-needed lens of diversity to the film. (When making her debut, Girlfight, she insisted that the protagonist be Latina rather than whitewashed to become a white actress’ star vehicle.) And, in addition to that, Kusama’s roots in horror with works like Jennifer’s Body and The Invitation can lend an unsettling quality to the Jurassic films – one that could bring the grit back around that Crichton’s original novels offer so effectively.

Kusama’s work with female-centric works like Girlfight, her breakout film, and the all-female horror anthology XX, also indicate a perspective that the Jurassic franchise could use. The idea of strong, independent, Sexy Lamp Test-passing females has been a staple of the films for the past twenty-five years, but we could always use more. Third film’s the charm, right?

Ana Lily Amirpour

Amirpour is perhaps best known for her 2014 vampire drama, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, as well as 2016’s The Bad Batch, a post-apocalyptic story featuring Keanu Reeves, Jason Momoa, and a one-armed Suki Waterhouse. She’s straight and to-the-point with her storytelling – there’s no creatively masking violence or insecurity, and the directness helps to build the brave new worlds her characters exist in and interact with.

Her work is delightfully bizarre, but also carries with it a heavy sense of sharpness and honesty that few other filmmakers can display in such intense genre films. She tells compelling stories using the bare minimum amount elements, and it’s clear that she knows exactly what she’s trying to achieve with each new project.

Amirpour only has two feature-length credits to her name – plus a directing credit on an upcoming episode of Legion – but other franchises have had clear success pulling directors from small, indie film backgrounds (see: Taika Waititi’s successful turn directing Thor: Ragnarok) and Amirpour’s style is perhaps exactly what the franchise needs. A bit strange, more than a bit dramatic, and pointedly different.

Sarah Adina Smith

Sarah Adina Smith is a woman known for her off-the-wall takes on the human psyche and the human experience. These tales have won several awards, including multiple Best Film awards for 2014’s The Midnight Swim, the story of three women unable to let go of the death of their mother. Off-the-wall is precisely what the Jurassic films need to continue pushing the envelope of the sci-fi genre, so why not put Smith in the driver’s seat?

Like Amirpour, Smith is also directing an upcoming episode of Legion, suggesting her propensity for stretching the limits of audiences’ imaginations to create an unbelievable world of sci-fi and fantasy – much like Michael Crichton did when he originally published Jurassic Park.

The indie director says that her approach to film is not intentionally unconventional – in an interview with Daily Dead, she said that “it’s all about listening and seeing what [the] movie wants to be, and letting the movie have a life of its own, and letting it dictate where it wants to go, and being less controlling about the process”. What would happen if she were made head of a large film like Jurassic World 3? Perhaps the story would go in a direction that no one ever imagined it could go, slipping down a rabbit hole that could reinvigorate the entire franchise with something fresh and different.

Julia Ducournau

Many of the women on this list are those who work in horror and have no qualms with getting their hands dirty to make a good film. Julia Ducournau has perhaps the dirtiest, bloodiest history of any of these directors, diving straight into body-horror with her first film. But, that type of blood, sweat, and tears in her work betrays a true, deep humanity that could lend incredibly well to the characters in Jurassic World, making them more than simply characters in an action film.

Her breakout film, Raw, examines the human condition through a very inhuman lens, taking the audience to new extremes to discuss something very close to them. Ducournau’s narrative of a teenage cannibal at veterinary school deconstructs the way people – specifically women – are looked at and how society treats them, turning a genre film from simply something that makes viewers faint to a dark commentary on social politics.

Cannibalism and dinosaurs aren’t exactly the same thing, but Ducournau’s method of storytelling is one that could apply well to the Jurassic franchise. The politics of genetic cloning and animals rights are being hotly debated in today’s society, and offering someone like Ducournau the opportunity to take the reins of a big budget sci-fi franchise could take audiences down a yellow brick road of genre horror – replacing the glitter on the audience’s ruby slippers with a bit of blood, of course.

What do you think? Who are your picks to direct the third Jurassic World installment? Let us know in the comments below!