Jurassic Park: 20 behind the scenes secrets

Since 'Jurassic Park' made its debut 20 years ago this week, we've endured two lesser sequels, a theme park ride and an IMAX re-release, with a 3D re-release still in the offing this August and JP4 due in the next few years. The original still endures: it's such a rollercoaster ride, you might not have realised the hard work that went into maintaining the movie magic. With that in mind, let us invite you behind the scenes of 'Jurassic Park' to share in the secrets that made it so memorable.

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Steven Spielberg's fateful meeting with 'Jurassic Park' author Michael Crichton in 1989 was actually set up to talk over a possible movie based on Crichton's surgical drama series 'E.R'. The topic of 'Jurassic Park' came up first, and 'E.R.' was never even discussed.

During the initial studio bidding war for 'Jurassic Park', Warner Bros wanted Tim Burton to direct, while Columbia had Superman director Richard Donner in their corner, and Fox had put forward 'Gremlins' creator Joe Dante.

Sean Connery was originally pursued for the role of John Hammond, before Richard Attenborough accepted his first acting role in 15 years. William Hurt turned down the role of Alan Grant, as did Harrison Ford. Juliette Binoche turned down the role of Ellie Sattler.

Ariana Richards' audition tape consisted solely of her screaming, at the director's request. "Steven had watched a few girls on tape that day," said Richards, "and I was the only one who ended up waking his sleeping wife off the couch. She came running to see if the kids were all right."

When 'Jurassic Park' was in pre-production, Steven Spielberg originally wanted to use full-sized 'inflatable' dinosaurs, like the 'King Kong' model that animator Bob Gurr had created for Universal Studios. The idea was deemed too expensive and impractical.

The plan was to use Phil Tippett's 'Go-Motion' technique to animate the dinosaurs – it's how George Lucas created movement for the AT-ATs and the Tauntauns in 'The Empire Strikes Back'. When Dennis Muren's ILM proved that digital full-length shots were possible, Go-Motion was ditched.

Production on the movie was delayed by tropical Hurricane Iniki, which tore through Hawaiian island of Kauai, destroying several of the outdoor sets. "It was like a bad movie," says Spielberg. "I turned on CNN and there was a map of Hawaii with an icon for a hurricane pointing at our island."

How's this for some Spielberg serendipity? When the hurricane forced the crew to evacuate the island, the helicopter pilot that came to rescue them was none other than Fred Sorenson, who previously worked with the director as Jock, the pilot who rescues Indiana Jones in the opening sequence of 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark'.

Artificial weather also hampered 'Jurassic Park'. Fake rain would play merry hell with Stan Winston's animatronic T-Rex head, which would absorb the water and shake violently during shooting. Between shots, crew members had to dry the Rex out with hairdryers.

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Most of the dinosaur shots in the movie are generally considered to be either CG or animatronics, but some of the full-length shots of the velociraptors are actually stuntmen in rubber suits, particularly in the kitchen sequence in the visitor's centre.

ILM didn't just create the dinosaurs. The scene in which Lex almost falls through the ceiling into the jaws of a waiting raptor needed a digital fix: Ariana Richards' stunt-double accidentally looked into the camera, meaning Richards' face was pasted on in post-production.

To recreate the sound of the Tyrannosaurus Rex's mighty roar, sound effects editor Ken Fischer mixed together elephant, tiger, penguin and alligator sounds, as well as the noise of a whale's gushing blow hole to simulate a release of pressure.

Crew members went to great lengths to recreate the desired 'ripple' effect on a glass of water to indicate the incoming T-Rex. Eventually, effects supervisor Michael Lantieri stumbled on the idea to thread a guitar string under the Jeep's dashboard – plucking the string created the perfect concentric circles in the water.

If you thought the reaction of the child actors during the T-Rex Jeep assault was impressive, that was because they weren't acting. The glass in the roof of the Jeep wasn't intended to break, but the snout of the animatronic Rex accidentally shattered it. The shot was kept in the movie.

When the T-Rex grabs sleazy lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) between his teeth and rips him to shreds, Fischer added sounds of his dog playing with a chew toy to add to the effect. The Rex also tips his head before the attack, like a dog.

During the scene where the visitors look into the raptor enclosure, Steven Spielberg provided some of the audio on set through a special megaphone. The director's screeching was mixed with the sounds of hissing geese and screaming dolphins to create the unsettling effect.

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"It's a UNIX system! I know this!" Although the 3D file navigation system on the Jurassic Park computer system looks like a rubbish Hollywood creation, it was in fact a real – if short-lived – browser called Fsn ('Fusion'). It was thought to be a touch more dramatic than a simple 'drag and drop' system.

Spielberg was so sure 'Jurassic Park' would be a hit, he began production on 'Schindler's List' before it was even finished. George Lucas was placed in charge of post-production. 'Jurassic Park' went on to become the most successful movie ever made; 'Schindler's List' went on to win Best Picture.

The ending featuring the return of the T-Rex was a relatively late addition. The original ending had Alan Grant kill the raptors by using a mechanical T-Rex skeleton in the lobby, using it as a giant puppet to crush the raptor with its head and feet.

Some scenes were deemed to expensive or complicated to make the cut. Early casualties of the script included a ride down a river that was cut short by a rampaging T-Rex, and a scene featuring a pterodactyl. Both scenes eventually made it into 'Jurassic Park III' in slightly altered forms.