Laura Dern explains how the iconic look of her character Dr. Ellie Sattler has changed for Jurassic World Dominion. Dern originated the character in 1993's Jurassic Park, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from the Michael Crichton novel of the same name. Sattler is a paleobotanist who is hired by the megarich John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to be part of a team to inspect his new theme park, where he has cloned dinosaurs from ancient DNA. Sattler is a bright and capable presence who is instrumental in their survival after the dinosaurs escape.
Although she made a brief appearance in Jurassic Park III opposite returning lead Sam Neill, Jurassic World Dominion is the first time she has returned to the main cast of the franchise since the original film. Dominion sees the return of Jurassic World trilogy leads Chris Pratt as Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing along with legacy Jurassic Park characters including Dern as Sattler, Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, and Neill as Dr. Alan Grant. Now that the dinosaurs have escaped into the wider world during the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the characters must band together and help save the world.
Screen Rant had the opportunity to interview Dern ahead of the premiere of Jurassic World: Dominion. During the conversation, the topic turned to Sattler's iconic look, of a pink button-down shirt tied at the waist. She explains that "it's back," though there are differences that reflect how the character has changed. She has moved on from paleontology to being "a soil scientist focused on climate change," so she is "sustainably dressed... Now my oversized shirt is sustainable bamboo and vegan sneakers." Read her full quote below:
[The look is] back. It's back.
And by the way, people are like, "How was the character evolved?" But I'm glad you brought up the fashion, because she's evolved from paleontology and focusing on our former extinction to how to prevent another by being a soil scientist focused on climate change. That's the perfect evolution we'd want from Dr. Ellie Sattler, so she has to be sustainably dressed. So, now my oversized shirt is sustainable bamboo and vegan sneakers. And maybe mycelium mushroom in my shirt and all organic cotton pants.
She's very focused on her fashion as well. I just want to throw that out.
Costuming is an incredibly important detail in establishing who a character is, as the iconic look from the original Jurassic Park proved. While fashion is important to Dr. Sattler, it must still also be in service to her everyday needs. In the first film, her primary requirement was that her clothing be functional and allow her to move as she worked on a dig, and now she has shifted her focus to reflect her interest in environmental conservation.
Unfortunately for her, this new career focus means she will be instrumental in fighting off a prehistoric threat yet again in Jurassic World: Dominion. Now that the nature of the danger has shifted entirely, her broader scope of knowledge will be incredibly useful in helping preserve the human race. While the stakes are so different and the character has changed so much, audiences can at least rest assured that part of the former Ellie remains, buried in how her new look reflects the former one.