Director Colin Trevorrow has described his favorite scene from Jurassic World Dominion. The final installment of the Jurassic World trilogy made its debut earlier this month, raking in approximately $462 million worldwide despite disappointing reviews. Following on from the cliffhanger events of the second film, Dominion focuses on humanity's fight to remain the apex predator after the destruction of Isla Nublar allowed its de-extinct dinosaurs to roam the Earth freely.
Since co-writing and directing the first installment of the Jurassic World film series, reigniting the beloved Jurassic Park franchise as a whole, Trevorrow has remained highly involved in the trilogy. Working on the scripts for each film, Trevorrow recently revealed that he'd received advice on how to navigate the story and characters from Steven Spielberg, the critically acclaimed director behind the first two Jurassic Park films. As Dominion reintroduced three of Spielberg's original stars to the franchise (namely Sam Neill as Alan Grant, Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm and Laura Dern as Ellie Sattler), the veteran filmmaker reportedly stressed the importance of focusing on the human aspect of the story, keeping the characters relatable and ordinary while confronted by extraordinary circumstances.
Now, Trevorrow has broken down one of his "favorite" scenes from Jurassic World Dominion. Describing it for The New York Times, the sequence focuses on Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) hanging from the treetops of Biosyn Valley after surviving a plane crash. Providing Howard with her first tense one-on-one interaction with a dinosaur, in this case, a Therizinosaurus, the scene finds her crawling along the undergrowth as the huge feathered creature slowly approaches from behind. Dragging herself under the water of a shallow pond in one of the longest takes featured in the films, the sequence ends with a shot of the dinosaur screeching against the surface of the water where Claire is submerged. Check out Trevorrow's full breakdown of the Jurassic World Dominion scene below:
Click here to watch the video on YouTube
With Trevorrow praising the scene as a chance to showcase Howard's acting ability, Dominion also sees the return of Chris Pratt as Owen Brady, BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, and Justice Smith as Franklin Webb. First introduced as one of the stars of 2015's Jurassic World, the character of Claire Dearing has enjoyed some serious character development since her days as a somewhat superior park executive, abandoning her infamous heels to combat the dangers of experimenting with nature in far more practical attire. Though Howard has always defended her character's empowerment in the films, Trevorrow's self-proclaimed "favorite" scene certainly demonstrates that her character is as gritty a hero as Pratt, willing to do anything to survive while saving humans and dinosaurs alike.
Made famous for its horror-inspiring confrontations with prehistoric behemoths, it seems only fitting that Howard got her own solo dinosaur scene after some much-deserved character growth throughout the trilogy. While Jurassic World Dominion may not have received the overall praise Trevorrow was hoping for, fans can at least appreciate that the final installment allowed Howard some screen time to shine on her own after so much focus was initially placed on Pratt's character, particularly as the franchise's old stars were invited to share the limelight. Though some critics may find fault in Trevorrow's conclusion to the Jurassic World story, critiquing scenes that echo the suspenseful dinosaur stand-offs that made the original movies so popular would be a hard task.
Source: The New York Times