Joseph Mazzello has grown up quite a bit since playing Tim Murphy in the iconic dinosaur film, Jurassic Park. Aside from becoming a filmmaker in his own right, he’s gone on to star in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, as well as award-winning films such as The Social Network and Bohemian Rhapsody.
With the country in quarantine, he’s finally gone back to his roots by helping to host a Jurassic Park watch party this week, for fans of the classic who are craving fun interactions. Mazzello spoke with Screen Rant about returning to the scene of this youth, exchanging letters with Steven Spielberg, and how the current pandemic may affect sci-fi in the future.
How real were your scares as a kid in the first Jurassic Park film?
Joseph Mazzello: You know, it's funny because I was actually a little bit of a veteran, even at the tender age of eight years old. I'd done a couple movies before, so it wasn't necessarily the dinosaurs themselves that scared me, but just the idea that these were huge machines being operated by a dozen people that were sort of hiding behind things and trying to make themselves not known to the cameras. It was just sort of the sheer weight of them. And, of course, the look.
There are times where they were there, and there were times where I just had to be acting to a dinosaur head that was drawn on a piece of cardboard, that looked like a five year old drew it. So, I had to have a good imagination at times, and then other times those incredible animatronics were there.
The legendary Steven Spielberg directed the first film; he's made dozens of films. What kind of movie genre would you like to see him tackle that he hasn't so far in his career?
Joseph Mazzello: That genre I don't think exists. The man has made The Color Purple, E.T., Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and Amistad. He has done absolutely everything, and he can do everything. What I think is amazing is that he's finally tackling - I could be wrong; fact-check me on that - a musical with West Side Story.
I love musical theater. My parents were dancers; my dad was on Broadway as a dance. West Side Story is one my all-time favorites, so I'm very excited to see what he does with that one. It looks like it's gonna be fantastic.
Back to Jurassic Park. We as humans have been recently toying with the idea of cloning. Do you think we should be experimenting with things like that, or should we literally take the message of Jurassic Park to heart?
Joseph Mazzello: Yeah, I think Malcolm's the one that says it, right? "Scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." I think, for humans, that's a really big ethical dilemma. Because to be someone who is cloned, struggles will take place with finding your identity and realizing that you someone else has your identity.
I wouldn't want it. I would never want someone to wake up one day and tell me I had been cloned by someone else. I certainly wouldn't want it, so I am not I'm not too into it, I would say. With dinosaurs? Yeah, come on, bring it back.
If the first Jurassic Park came out in 2020, how different do you think Steven Spielberg's film would be? And in what ways do you think it'd be different?
Joseph Mazzello: Boy, I don't think it would be that different. I don't think it'd be that different at all.
The thing is, the special effects hold up so brilliantly. Stan Winston, in his heyday - just an incredible marriage between CGI and animatronics and puppeteering. It's just kind of like that perfect blend that I think we're actually missing from movies today. They lean so heavy on the CGI that it doesn't matter how good it looks, you know you can't just reach out and touch it. What made Jurassic Park thing so special is that you believed the CGI because of the close-ups; because of the other scenes where you know that they were there and it was really there in front of you. And so, I hope it wouldn't change much at all.
It's amazing watching Spielberg do movies - even popcorn films. Even these big, tentpole popcorn films. When you think of Jurassic Park, I can think of 20 shots off the top of my head that are iconic. He just took such great care with every single frame of that movie, as he always does. Knowing the perfectionist that he is too, I hope that it wouldn't change at all.
Do you think that we're more or less prepared for a dinosaur outbreak than we were in the 90s?
Joseph Mazzelo: Well, in our current situation, we're all locked in our homes, so I think that we could maybe keep the death toll down pretty well. So, I think exact moment, we might be ready for it.
But I don't know. It would be crazy to think about something like that still roaming free through upstate New York or what have you. I don't know, I think right now in this particular time, we'd be ready for it.
You're also a filmmaker, and sci-fi has always been a reflection of what's going on in the world. Do you think that the current pandemic is gonna affect storytelling and themes moving forward?
Joseph Mazzello: Surely. I mean, everyone's at home. I bet there's probably a dozen screenplays being written about this as we speak.
It's so funny. You see post-apocalyptic movies and pandemic movies, the kind of films that touch on what we're experiencing now. And, of course, it's not quite the dystopia that you usually see the movies devolve into Although maybe it will; you never know with this thing. But I think maybe there'll be some more realistic depictions of pandemics; showing that the entire society has to fight together. Hopefully we don't start fighting each other as you usually see in these films. We can see a movie that's a little bit more uplifting about people coming together for it.
Jurassic Park is such an iconic movie with such a brilliant cast, yourself included. Who from the cast have you kept in contact with?
Joseph Mazzello: You know, I just saw Laura Dern pretty recently. We were doing some of these parties for award shows. So, I got to see her a couple times when I was doing all the Bohemian Rhapsody press, and she's probably the she's the person I saw most recently. Sam [Neill], a little but.
It's funny because that movie came out in, like, 1993. The internet wasn't really anything back then, so it was always harder to keep in touch with people in those days than it is now. When I do films now I stay in touch with everybody, but back then it was a phone call or you were writing someone. It was a lot more difficult.
But I've been exchanging a couple letters with Steven recently; we've exchanged four or five letters just in the last year alone. Actual paper letters. He's old school, and it's great to get to see that Spielberg envelope come in the mail - it's always a wonderful thing. We've been exchanging a couple notes recently after Bohemian, and as I just said, I'm interested in West Side Story. Probably of anyone from that shoot, it's Steven that I keep the closest contact with.
I want to jog your memory a little bit. What was the toughest day of shooting Jurassic Park that you can remember?
Joseph Mazzello: Oh, boy. The thing about Jurassic Park is that every day was a joy. That's not a dodge, I will answer your question - but the worst day on that set was still among the best days of other shoots that I've done. Just because Spielberg was just such a dream to work with and knew just how to handle kids.
We were in an amusement park every day. We would actually go sometimes on quote-unquote field trips into Universal Studios when we were on the backlot, and we'd go ride the rides. And the other two months we spent were in Hawaii. Not a terrible place to be for two months.
But probably the toughest day, even though looking back it was really fun, was when the T-rex was on top of us and kind of squishing the car down into the mud. We had to basically be in all of this goop, like, get lowered into this oatmeal mixed with mud concoction. That was a little bit scary when you kind of felt that coming up on you, and you feel you're going to drown in the mud. That was pretty crazy.
And then there was also of my birthday, where I got a little injury because of the kitchen scene. The raptor came and was chasing me, and they lost control of it and its claw hit me in the head. I was down for the count; I didn't get knocked out, but I fell to the ground. And that's when Steven and the whole crew sang "Happy Birthday" to me, which was a pretty great moment. That was a small not-fun moment within a great day even still, so I would do any one of those days again in a heartbeat.
Do you think, with the way VFX has progressed, that it's the right time for a Jurassic Park spinoff on streaming?
Joseph Mazzello: I think I saw a rumor about that recently. I don't know that it's true or not, I have no idea. Maybe I saw something or someone, just as you're doing, pontificating about it.
I think you can do anything these days, with just how great television has become. You could bring Jurassic Park anywhere, I think, and it would still have people that are on the edge of their seats watching it. There's just something about these prehistoric beings, and finding ways to bring them intimately into our lives in scary ways can kind of work in many different ways. And there's so many brilliant writers out there, I'm sure they could.
Can you talk to me about what you're expecting from the live watch-alongs?
Joseph Mazzello: I'm expecting a lot of fun. I was approached about it, and I immediately said, "Oh, this would be great idea. I would love to do it." The last time I saw the film was in theaters when they brought it out for the 20th anniversary in 3D. So, it's been probably about seven years since I've seen it, and that was really fun going my friends and laughing along to it.
But this, I think, will be great. Just because there's so many Jurasic super fans out there that I hope join us for it. I'm up and ready to answer any crazy questions that anybody has, and to reminisce and to show off some souvenirs I have still. I just think it's gonna be a great time looking back at one of these all-time great films that I'm just so happy to be a part of.
Speaking of great films, you starred in the award-winning Bohemian Rhapsody. What other musicians or celebrity stories would you like to see on the big screen?
Joseph Mazzello: Boy, I think you've gotta do Prince, right? It's just about you're gonna get to play him, just because he was so dynamic on stage. I think that would be a really good one. I would personally really love to see a Tom Petty film, just because I'm a big fan of his music and I just love his voice - even his speaking voice. I think he would be so much fun to be able to play, actually.
Those are probably the two that come to mind to me most most readily. I think you could have good stories behind them, just because their careers were so vast and wild. I think they could be really fun.
I'm a huge fan of GI Joe, and I know you starred in Retaliation. They've been trying to develop a sequel for years and also doing a spinoff for Snake Eyes. Are you interested in reprising your role in GI Joe?
Joseph Mazzello: I would love to do that. John Chu was director of that; he and I went to USC together. I've known him since college, and so I came on board when he asked me to. I'd love that. I had a fantastic experience. Channing was amazing, and The Rock was awesome. In the film, you don't know if Mouse actually dies or not. He kind of disappears a little bit, so you never know. I'd be up for it.