Writer/director Colin Trevorrow has faced, a difficult mixed bag of reactions about recent films including the critically reviled “The Book of Henry.” The filmmaker recently discussed the “devastating” negative response to ‘Henry” and his parting-of-ways with the “Star Wars” franchise. But now he’s shifting back to the massive project that made him famous and put him on the Hollywood map. In 2015, Trevorrow wrote and directed the return to Isla Nublar with “Jurassic World.” For the sequel, he took a more moderate backseat as writer and executive producer. Instead, director J.A. Bayona (“The Impossible,” “A Monster Calls) sat in the director’s chair to take audiences from the endangered island to civilization along with a slew of new, and familiar dinosaurs.
READ MORE: Director Colin Trevorrow Is Back For ‘Jurassic World 3’ But Is It The Right Move?
Trevorrow recently talked to the BFI about what it takes to make a good dinosaur movie. But not just any dino movie. The history behind the franchise is not wasted on Trevorrow. So it’s really no surprise the writer involved Steven Spielberg from the get-go.
READ MORE: ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’: The Franchise Erupts, But It’s Never Enough [Review]
“The first film [‘Jurassic World’] was based on a set of ideas that [Spielberg] had, and I felt that movie was in service of what his vision could be,” he told the BFI. “And in this film, he allowed [co-screenwriter] Derek [Connolly] and I to write an original story and take it where we want it to go, and I think one of the benefits of the first film doing as well as it did is that it gave us a little bit of room to make it a little more challenging and resonant and take some risks, without cracking the foundation that Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton built.”
Of course, there are certain beats and elements that Trevorrow has brought to the table with his park that are unique but still based in that same nostalgic feel. As with the original trilogy, endless peril is a must. But there’s a wrinkle in ‘Fallen Kingdom,’ the idea of an ethical and human way to treat dinosaurs.
“I try not to make a message movie, but I think that inherent in the story we’re telling are some real questions about our responsibility to other living creatures on the planet,” he explained. “And we’ve put a lot of them in situations of peril. The last male white rhino just died. That’s human responsibility. And we’ve had a great effect on this planet, and we do have to have a discussion about what we can do to correct those mistakes.”
In 2021, Trevorrow will be back in the director chair for “Jurassic World 3.” He’ll also be writing the script and it’s likely he and Connolly already know where the story is going. Until then, we can look at the ways Trevorrow has resurrected the franchise. Much like the creatures themselves, there is immense thought and preparation that goes into reigniting something familiar. With Trevorrow, it’s not just the same old “Jurassic Park.” It’s genetically engineered. The new films combine old with new, and will, no doubt, lumber towards the box office soon.
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” hits theaters June 22.