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Dinosaurs roar back to life in 'Lost World'
May 22, 1997
Web posted at: 5:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT)From Correspondent Sherri Sylvester
(CNN) -- They're back and they're mad as hell.
"Yeah, oooh, aaah. That's how it begins, and then there's the running and the screaming," says Jeff Goldblum, star of the summer's first soon-to-be blockbuster, "The Lost World," of the ferocious dinosaurs crossing his path.
Remember "Jurassic Park"? It seems all those big bad dinosaurs weren't destroyed after all. In fact, the breeding ground for the gigantic beasts is some 80 miles away, where dozens of carnivorous dinos are running free and waiting for a new adventure.
Director Steven Spielberg received so much fan mail about the dinosaurs in his hugely popular "Jurassic Park" that he agreed to explore a new adventure in "The Lost World."
This time around, Goldblum returns as Ian Malcolm, a chaos theory scientist who attempts to rescue a team of newcomers, including Vince Vaughn, a video documentarian, and Julianne Moore, a paleontologist, who are attempting to research the beasts up close.
What this research crew doesn't realize is that they're in for the fight of their lives.
For the actors, the job was not without its shortfalls.
"When Steven talked to me about the job, he was like, 'Are you athletic?' and I'm like, 'Well, you know, whatever,'" Moore says, saying she had no idea what she was getting into.
Vaughn recalls one day where Moore literally disappeared.
"One day we couldn't tell there was a drop, and she slipped and fell 7 feet on her back," Vaughn says.
Movie magic
Motivation for all the action was provided by several species of animatronic predators.
"There were a couple of big T-Rexes, the most ferocious predators, that were real, right there on the set," Goldblum says.
Six-ton Tyrannosaurus Rexes, to be exact, with heads the size of an entire human body.
"They had eyes that would tear up, expressions and personalities," Moore says.
Remote controls sent the animals into action.
"They'd say, 'Put away your laptop computers because that's how we're operating this thing.' It was just like taking off in a plane," Goldblum says.
Electrical interference could wreak havoc with the mechanical dinos, sending them out of control, Goldblum says. Not something the actors wanted to deal with.
Computer-generated images completed the picture, allowing for unprecedented action on the big screen.
Such massive efforts are expected to make "The Lost World" into a monster hit like its predecessor, "Jurassic Park," which grossed nearly $1 billion.
"Asking people to come back for a second helping of this thing, we felt a sense of responsibility in delivering something that exceeded their appetites," Goldblum says.
Prepare to be satisfied.
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