Jurassic Park Screenwriter Reveals Original Opening Of Film
David Koepp has been out on the road promoting his new book, Cold Storage. Of course numerous questions about his film work are brought up during his tour. Koepp wrote the first two Jurassic Park films and is currently working on Indiana Jones 5. During a recent interview Koepp shared some information about how the first Jurassic Park film was supposed to open, before Steven Spielberg ultimately had him change it.
Speaking on stage at a London screening on Wednesday, he said of working on the Steven Spielberg-directed film: ‘The problem I encountered, and I still encounter today when I work with Steven, is his movies are so influential, you have a tendency to create something you think he’ll like.
‘I kind of wanted to just type for him. You have to let that go. He doesn’t need acolytes, he needs collaborators. The opening scene in my first draft was at a hospital in Costa Rica where somebody’s flown in on a helicopter and said it’s a terrible construction accident.
‘I wrote a really good scene where this ER doctor looks at this guy, a person’s who’s been ripped to shreds and says "this is not a construction accident…"
‘He said "I love your opening – I can’t do it though, because I feel like I already did it." I said "what? When?" He said "yeah, it’s in Jaws…" I said "Oh yeah, right! I love that!"’
‘That’s a peril. You’ve got to write stuff you think is great, then he brings his stuff to it, rather than you trying to think ahead and write what you think he would want.’
Koepp also discussed his thoughts on the Jurassic World films and you can read what he shared here.
