Before the original Jurassic Park had its cast solidified, there were several other possibilities for the main character roles. As the biggest box office hit of 1993, and a project by the renowned Steven Spielberg no less, the film was a career-maker for several of the actors involved. Even before the film went into production, plenty of people in Hollywood could tell Jurassic Park was going to be a big deal, which is part of why so many actors auditioned.
Despite the mixed success of Jurassic Park's many sequels, the original still stands as a beloved classic, in large part due to the excellent chemistry of its main cast. Jurassic Park makes plenty of changes in its adaptation of Michael Crichton's 1990 novel, but the fascinating premise of recreating dinosaurs in the modern world and the key themes of simultaneous wonderment and grave danger remain very much in place, and are what make the film so memorable. From the majesty of the first brachiosaurus encounter towards the beginning of the film to the pure terror of the velociraptor kitchen scene later on, Jurassic Park is filled with opportunities for actors to dig in and explore many different emotions on-screen, which is something each member of the main cast does quite well.
It's hard to imagine anyone else playing Grant, Hammond, Malcolm, Sattler, and the kids. But there were actually other famous movie stars almost cast in Jurassic Park before the roles went to Sam Neill, Sir Richard Attenborough, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Ariana Richards, and Joseph Mazzello, respectively. Here's a run-down of each main character in Jurassic Park and who else auditioned or was in consideration for the part.
Dr. Alan Grant
Jurassic Park's main paleontologist, Dr. Alan Grant, plays a big role in establishing the significance of the Park, analyzing the behavior of the dinosaurs, and of course, keeping Lex and Tim safe when things go horribly awry. He's played by Sam Neill, who does a great job delivering equal parts badassery, nerdiness, and gravitas to the role. But before Neill landed the part, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, William Hurt, and Kurt Russell were all considered, along with several other rumored names who may have turned down the Alan Grant role for various reasons, such as Dylan McDermott, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Quaid, Kevin Costner, and Tim Robbins. As for Ford, he passed on the part because the film's premise seemed too odd to him, while Dreyfuss was likely wary of working with Spielberg again after Close Encounters of the Third Kind put him through the wringer. It's unknown why Hurt declined the part of Grant, but in Russell's case, it seems he was too expensive a catch.
John Hammond
John Hammond, the millionaire with big dreams who creates the eponymous Jurassic Park, manages to inspire a lot of wonder in the audience and the rest of the main cast despite the fact that his best-laid plans go so wrong. It's truly hard to imagine anyone but the great Richard Attenborough in the role, and it's an especially fitting parallel given his brother David Attenborough's voicing of BBC's Planet Earth series. However, Spielberg initially offered the role of Hammond to Sean Connery, but the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade star turned it down, as he has done with several big roles during his career. It could also be that Connery, like Russell, would have asked for a higher salary than Jurassic Park was willing to pay.
Dr. Ian Malcolm
The iconic Jeff Goldblum fittingly plays mathematician and chaos-theorist, Dr. Ian Malcolm, in Jurassic Park. Casting director Janet Hirshenson favored Goldblum for the role early on, but other big names auditioned and screen-tested, most notably Jim Carrey. Carrey's audition was reportedly (and expectedly) wonderful, but Goldblum was simply the right man for the part, and Carrey's big break as the protagonist of the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective movies was just around the corner in 1994. Johnny Depp, Bruce Campbell, Michael Keaton, Ted Danson, Michael J. Fox, and Steve Guttenberg all did screen tests as Dr. Malcolm as well, and even Cameron Thor, who ended up playing Dodgson in Jurassic Park, put in an audition.
Dr. Ellie Sattler
As with Goldblum's casting as Malcolm, it seems Laura Dern was simply destined to play paleobotanist and girlfriend to Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler. She was Spielberg's top choice throughout most of the casting process, though the role was officially offered to Juliette Binoche at one point. She had to turn it down, however, due to her previous commitment to Three Colors Blue. Robin Wright also turned down the part for unknown reasons and ended up co-starring with Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump a year later. Sandra Bullock, Helen Hunt, and Gwyneth Paltrow also put in auditions, but Spielberg's heart was set on Dern, and unlike some other stars whose big breaks were still to come, she was a better-known name at the time of Jurassic Park's casting.
Lex Murphy
Hammond's older grandchild, Lex Murphy, does her best to look after her little brother throughout Jurassic Park, but the actress who plays her, Ariana Richards, does a great job showing just how terrified Lex really is, especially when trapped in the kitchen with a pair of hungry velociraptors. In fact, it was Richards' convincing scream that landed her the part. While lots of girls did screen tests, Spielberg really just wanted to hear many of them scream, and when Richards obliged, it was so compelling that Spielberg's wife ran into the room in a panic. Christina Ricci, who was known at the time for playing Wednesday Addams of The Addams Family, auditioned as well, but apparently nobody could top Richards' scream.
Tim Murphy
Unlike every other main role, the part of Tim Murphy was made specifically for the actor who got it, Joseph Mazzello, and nobody else was ever in the running. In the Jurassic Park novel, Tim Murphy is older than his sister Lex, but Spielberg rewrote the characters to fulfill a promise to Mazzello. The young actor, who was not yet ten years old when he starred in Jurassic Park, had previously auditioned to play Peter Banning's son, Jack, in Spielberg's 1991 film, Hook, and when he didn't get the part, Spielberg promised he'd work with Mazzello on a future project. The opportunity came two years later with Jurassic Park, and the part of Tim Murphy was Mazzello's without any contest. Like the rest of Jurassic Park's cast, Mazzello was the perfect actor to play his character in the end.
