Why Jurassic Park Cut The Original Movie’s Most Spectacular Scene
Written by on June 5, 2023
Jurassic Park is a movie known for having some incredible sequences, but the most spectacular scene from the original movie was actually cut. The Jurassic Park franchise has a notorious amount of cut scenes, with characters, storylines, dinosaurs, and more dying on the cutting room floor. However, one of the most famous sequences that were removed from a Jurassic Park script actually was set to appear in the first film, with Jurassic Park‘s most spectacular scene getting pretty far along in production before it was cut. So, here’s everything that there is to know about the cut Jurassic Park action scene that would have one-upped everything else.
Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic Jurassic Park was a huge hit, with the film’s enormous critical and commercial success leading to a massive multimedia franchise that is still going on to this day. While the story, characters, and music of Jurassic Park are all well remembered, the film’s most defining feature is its special effects. The original Jurassic Park used groundbreaking CGI and practical effects, with the film’s dinosaurs being unlike anything that had been seen before. While this helped create Jurassic Park‘s massive scale, the film still couldn’t accomplish everything, as it had to cut out its most spectacular sequence.
Jurassic Park’s Raft Scene Would Have Been The Movie’s Biggest Sequence
Early drafts of Jurassic Park featured a massive river raft setpiece, and it would have easily been the movie’s biggest sequence. The scene would have been built around a raft-based attraction that had been built at Jurassic Park, with it allowing guests to travel through the habitats of the various reptilian residents of the park. However, as so often happens in the Jurassic Park movies, things would have quickly gone wrong, leading to a massive action scene that simply turned out to be too big for the Spielberg film.
The scene would have seen Alan Grant and the two kids on board the river raft, with things going smoothly until a dangerous threat pops up: the Tyrannosaurus rex. The dinosaur would have pursued the group through the river, wading through the water as Grant and the kids tried to flee. Eventually, they would have reached a waterfall, putting the trio between a rock and a hard place. On top of that, the Tyrannosaurus rex would have started a stampede, making things worse. With the dinosaur so close that it licks Lex and Tim, the raft would have gone over the waterfall, with the group luckily surviving.
The River Raft Scene Was Straight From The Books (& Partially Filmed)
This exciting cut river raft scene would have easily been the most dynamic and exciting scene in the film, but there’s actually more to it than just that. This river raft sequence was lifted straight from Michael Crichton’s original book, explaining why it was in the script in the first place. As written, the scene was pretty close to the novel’s version, which is surprising due to how much Jurassic Park changed from its source material. However, the sequence was eventually cut, severing one of the few connections between Spielberg’s film and Crichton’s original novel.
Jurassic Park‘s cut river raft scene got much farther than just being written, though. As it turns out, some parts of the scene were actually filmed according to the 1993 book The Making of Jurassic Park: An Adventure 65 Million Years in the Making. It isn’t known what parts were filmed, as the footage is impossible to find. However, the fact that any of it was filmed means that it got pretty far along, with the decision to cut it coming pretty late in the film’s development. Due to how close the scene was to making it in, it’s a shame that the spectacular Jurassic Park sequence was cut.
Jurassic Park’s River Raft Scene Was Expensive & Redundant
While the river raft scene would have been fun, it ended up being cut because it was too expensive and too redundant. While Jurassic Park went all-out for its effects, having a swimming T-Rex and a waterfall sequence would have cost too much for the time, with it ballooning the cost of the already big-budget film. On top of that, co-screenwriter David Koepp never liked the scene, believing that it broke the pacing of the film’s chaos. Upon the scene being cut, Steven Spielberg suggested the T-Rex jeep chase scene, leading to Jurassic Park‘s most iconic scene.
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