Jurassic World Dominion director Colin Trevorrow reveals that the editing process for the film was "traumatic." Acting as the conclusion to the Jurassic World franchise, Jurassic World Dominion brings back Chris Pratt's Owen and Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire, as dinosaurs now live among humans. After the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the latest installment sees the pair team up with Jurassic Park legacy characters, including Sam Neill's Alan Grant, Laura Dern's Ellie Sattler, and Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm, to stop a dangerous bioengineering company.
Jurassic World Dominion has been a major box office success but hasn't fared well with critics, and is currently sitting at just 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. While general audiences seem to have enjoyed the film significantly more, many critics state that Jurassic World Dominion ultimately wastes its interesting premise. Specifically, some have argued that the way in which the return of the legacy characters played out was somewhat disappointing, and the Jurassic Park cast were under-used. The film marks Trevorrow's second entry in the franchise, with the filmmaker also having directed the original Jurassic World in 2015, which is generally well-liked and earned over $1.6 billion at the box office.
In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant ahead of the home release of Jurassic World Dominion, Trevorrow delves more into the editing process for the film and reveals that it felt "traumatic" at times. The director explains that the movie ultimately had to come in under two-and-a-half hours in runtime, meaning many scenes had to be cut. Trevorrow says that many of the scenes that were cut would have further explored the relationships between certain characters, but that, in the end, the movie ended up at its "natural resting weight." Check out Trevorrow's full comment below:
Exclusive: It's a really, really challenging and at times traumatic process internally. Because it was my editor and I in the cutting room, knowing that we had to streamline this movie to get it under two and a half hours. And in order to do it, it took having to step away and look at the whole thing from 10,000 feet and just figure out what we could do. Even though way deep down, we wish that they could see the complete movie to make sure that people understood what was going on. That people understood how these people knew each other; very basic stuff.
And the tough thing for me is that, inevitably, you're going to lose a lot of little things. I think the way a movie breathes; the way you get to know characters is just by seeing how they are almost in the off hours a little bit—not when they're on. And when you streamline a movie like this, everyone's on all the time, and sometimes it feels like they're running to catch up with a movie or it's gonna get away. I'm glad it got to be at its natural resting weight.
Not long before the release of Jurassic World Dominion in theaters, it was revealed that the Jurassic Park legacy characters would appear in more than just cameo roles and that they would actually be essential to the story. While many fans are evidently happy with the increased screen time for Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm, Trevorrow's comment suggests that there were even more scenes filmed exploring the dynamic between these characters than made it into the final film. Of course, as an expensive studio blockbuster, certain rules ultimately have to be followed in terms of runtime, and moments that flesh out smaller details will often be cut in favor of bigger moments that move the plot along.
Although some audiences were disappointed with the theatrical cut of the film, the home release of the Jurassic World Dominion extended edition may end up offering some consolation. It remains to be seen what additional material the extended edition has, but Trevorrow's comments about the editing processes certainly suggest that certain individual characters (particularly the legacy cast) and their relationships with others may be fleshed out in a more satisfying way. If nothing else, Trevorrow's comment sheds some light on what the editing process is like for a major studio blockbuster, and how painful the experience can sometimes be for its filmmaker.
Jurassic World Dominion is now available on 4K, Blu-ray, and Digital with a special extended edition.