17 Facts & Trivia About The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Everybody loves dinosaurs! And dinosaur movies are pretty much always fun, even if the movie itself is kinda mediocre and does not have Muppets. Steven Spielberg’s 1997 film The Lost World: Jurassic Park is certainly no exception to that statement. While it lacks the freshness and the awe that comes with groundbreaking innovation that the original Jurassic Park (1993) gave us, it still has dinosaurs fucking shit up. In fact, the sequel has 50% more dinosaurs than the original. Here are more fun facts about The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
1. Who directed The Lost World: Jurassic Park?
Steven Spielberg directed The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), his sequel to Jurassic Park (1993). The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) is the 16th feature film Steven Spielberg has directed, between Schindler’s List (1993) and Amistad (1997).
2. Who is in The Lost World: Jurassic Park?
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) stars Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vanessa Chester, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Attenborough, Vince Vaughn, and Arliss Howard. The Lost World: Jurassic Park does not feature Samuel L. Jackson or Wayne Knight because dinosaurs ate them in the original Jurassic Park (1993).
3. Is The Lost World: Jurassic Park a true story?
No. Jurassic Park is not a real place you can actually visit and the dinosaurs featured in any of the movies no longer exist.
4. Is The Lost World: Jurassic Park based on a book?
Yes. The Lost World is Michael Crichton’s 1995 sequel to his 1990 novel Jurassic Park. Though Michael Crichton had no plans to ever write a sequel to the first book, the movie’s triumphant and historical success — as well as Steven Spielberg’s interest in making one — certainly had an influence. Curiously, the Jeff Goldblum character of Ian Malcolm was killed off in the first novel, but returns unexplained in the second book. The book was a hit and spent 8 weeks at the top of the New York Times bestseller list in Fall 1995.
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5. Is The Lost World: Jurassic Park any good?
It’s okay. Like many sequels, it’s not nearly as great or exciting as its predecessor Jurassic Park, and all that awe-inspiring wonder of admiring big-ass dinosaurs is lacking here. Still, it’s stuffed with pretty good action sequences and it’s hard to not enjoy dinosaurs fucking shit up. On another note, the casting of Vanessa Lee Chester as Jeff Goldblum’s Black daughter is a very nice bit of representation to see in a blockbuster movie from 1997. The Tomatometer at Rotten Tomatoes has The Lost World: Jurassic Park at a mediocre 53%, and Roger Ebert gave the film just two stars in his review, which could be summed up in his first sentence: “Where’s the awe?” Anyway, you are welcome to click on the DVD below and buy it and see for yourself.
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6. Did The Lost World: Jurassic Park make any money?
Tons! The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) had a budget of $73 million, and the box office return was more than $618 million. It was the first movie to take $70+ million on opening weekend and was the biggest opening ever up to that point. This record would be broken a few years later by Shrek 2 (2004).
7. Who is Vanessa Chester?
Vanessa Lee Chester had appeared in A Little Princess (1995) and Harriet the Spy (1996) when she landed the role of Jeff Goldblum’s daughter The Lost World: Jurassic Park over Mila Kunis. Vanessa met Steven Spielberg at the premiere of A Little Princess and the famous filmmaker told the young talent that he was going to put her in a movie someday. Vanessa actually did not know who Jeff Goldblum was when she read with him for the role during her audition, and she also did most of her own stunts in the film. Vanessa also said that the Velociraptor was her favorite dinosaur to work with.
8. Warren Zevon & The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Screenwriter David Koepp is a big fan of Warren Zevon, and was particularly inspired by “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” to name the Pete Postlethwaite and Vince Vaughn characters Tembo and Van Owen, respectively. “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” can be found on Warren Zevon’s 1978 album Excitable Boy.
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9. Steven Spielberg didn’t have a great time shooting The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Steven Spielberg didn’t especially enjoy the experience of shooting The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Spielberg told The New York Times in May 2016 that “My sequels aren’t as good as my originals because I go onto every sequel I’ve made and I’m too confident. This movie made a ka-zillion dollars, which justifies the sequel, so I come in like it’s going to be a slam dunk and I wind up making an inferior movie to the one before.” According to Joseph McBride’s 1997 biography on Steven Spielberg, the disenchantment was enough for the legendary auteur to wonder out loud, “I found myself saying, ‘Is that all there is?'”
Click on the book to buy Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride
10. What old monster movies influenced The Lost World: Jurassic Park?
The Michael Crichton novel borrows the title from Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World, but Steven Spielberg made sure screenwriter David Koepp watched the 1925 silent film version directed by Harry O. Hoyt. According to Koepp, Howard Hawks’s Hatari! (1962) also had a significant impact on the script for The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Inspiration was also drawn from Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s King Kong (1933), Eugène Lourié’s The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Eugène Lourié’s Gorgo (1961), and Haruyasu Noguchi’s Gappa the Triphibian Monsters (1967). A pair of classic science fiction films also helped served noted cinematographer Janusz Kaminski as a visual reference for the nighttime scenes of The Lost World: Jurassic Park: Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982).
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11. Was The Lost World: Jurassic Park nominated for anything?
The creative team of Michael Lantieri, Stan Winston, Randal M. Dutra, and Dennis Muren received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects for their work on The Lost World: Jurassic Park. They were nominated along with the teams of Starship Troopers and Titanic, and lost to the latter.
12. Where did they make The Lost World: Jurassic Park?
Shooting was originally planned for New Zealand, but production costs and other financial incentives shifted focus to bringing the production stateside. A few different locations in California were used in the making of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, including the sound stages at Universal Studios Hollywood. Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in northern California — perhaps more familiar as the Forest Moon of Endor seen in Return of the Jedi (1983) — was also used, as well as Sue-meg State Park north of Eureka, California.
13. Juliette Binoche turned down the first two Jurassic Park movies
The brilliant and exquisite Juliette Binoche is perhaps best known for her Academy Award-winning role in Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient (1996). Steven Spielberg offered her the role in the first Jurassic Park, but she turned it down and the role went to Laura Dern. Spielberg tried again and offered her a role in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Juliette Binoche agreed, but only if she could play the dinosaur. Spielberg presumably unfortunately refused, and role went to Julianna Moore instead.
14. What kind of sound effects were used in The Lost World: Jurassic Park?
To express the vocalizations of the different dinosaurs, the The Lost World: Jurassic Park team got very creative. They used the sound of a baby camel crying for its mother for the kiddo Tyrannosaurus. That part at the end where the Pteranodon screeches? That’s from the sound of dental floss being taken out of the box — but slowed down. The sounds of a rhinoceros were used for the baby Stegosaurus, and the Parasaurolophus is actually a whole bunch of cows calling through tubes.
15. Audience complaints about Jurassic Park were considered for its sequel
Lots of kids and dinosaur nerds had qualms about the original Jurassic Park (1993) — which actually resulted in 50% more dinosaurs in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg said that literally thousands of letters were received demanding to know why Stegosaurus was not in the movie, which was rectified for the sequel. When screenwriter David Koepp was penning the script to The Lost World: Jurassic Park, he kept a fan letter taped near his computer screen that complained that dinosaurs took too long to appear in the original movie.
16. How many different dinosaurs appear in The Lost World: Jurassic Park?
You can spot 10 different dinosaurs in The Lost World: Jurassic Park: Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Velociraptor, Compsognathus, Gallimimus, Mamenchisaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Pteranodon. Ask a dinosaur-obsessed child for help in pronouncing these names.
17. Who did the soundtrack score to The Lost World: Jurassic Park?
Obscenely prolific film composer John Williams — who has been nominated for more than 50 Academy Awards — scored and conducted The Lost World: Jurassic Park, as well as the first Jurassic Park. While John Williams typically reuses scores when he does sequels, that was not the case for 
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Do your eyes hurt from watching too many movies and you’d rather read? Check out our list of 10 Awesome Books About Dinosaurs and Paleontology! Looking for more fun facts about other fun movies? Check out our lists on Bringing Out the Dead, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Cool Hand Luke, and Miami Vice.
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