Copyright /FILM
"Jurassic Park" and "Indiana Jones" have had close ties over the years. Harrison Ford was initially considered for the role of Dr. Alan Grant before Sam Neill was cast, and additionally, David Koepp, who wrote the script for the original movie that took 65 years in the making, also penned Indy's last two adventures as well. When it came to the Gareth Edwards-directed "Jurassic World: Rebirth," however, the filmmaker needed an idea for a specific scene and drew inspiration from the efforts of good Doctor Jones. In an interview with Empire, Edwards broke down the sequence that saw Jonathan Bailey's character, Dr. Henry Loomis (who was revealed to know Grant in the film), enter a Quetzalcoatlus nest to take its egg. The act needed light fingers, and Edwards paid homage to Jones' classic switcheroo in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to do it. "That sequence was actually written as being in a nest on the edge of a cliff, and I just couldn't figure out how to do anything exciting in this nest. I thought, 'What if it was a cave or maybe even an Inca cave?'" From there, Edwards began to quickly join the dots between dinosaurs and the man with the whip and the hat. "And the second you do an Inca carving, without realising it, you're instantly in 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark,'" Edwards confessed. There was also a time when Edwards had much more impactful plans for the inclusion of tribespeople on Île Saint-Hubert, but had to swap it out for a Snickers. Seriously. If you can recall, it's misplaced litter that brings about the events of "Jurassic World: Rebirth" after a Snickers wrapper gets trapped in the security door, keeping the Distortus Rex at bay. The shameless product placement was actually far worse than the one we ended up with that Edwards himself even admitted to not being a fan of. The original idea he had to kick things off, however, sounded far more impactful and would've had a lot more to say to audiences than advise them to go back to the concession stand and get some nuts. "I'd pitched an original opening where there were tribespeople witnessing the destruction of the forest as we're building the lab. It felt very thematic, but that didn't make it in." However, with that concept still rattling around in his head, the inclusion of a forgotten tribe is what led to the Indy homage with the Quetzalcoatlus egg. The scene went down a treat, especially for producer Frank Marshall, who had been behind both franchises and was surprised to see them slightly merge in the latest instalment. "What was fun was when Frank Marshall, the producer of Raiders, walked on set, looked around, and went, "Oh!" Life and adventure find a way, after all.
