June 18, 2025 • 17 mins
From Jurassic super fan to director of the franchise’s latest installment, Gareth Edwards joins Jacqueline Coley to talk about his latest movie, Jurassic World Rebirth. He reflects on his path—from creating the VFX shots himself in the film Monsters, to directing Rogue One, to taking on Spielberg’s legacy of bringing the large-scale spectacle of dinosaurs to the big screen.
Gareth talks paying homage to his predecessors (from Jaws to Jurassic), why he was literally watching grass grow on set, and what it was like working with fellow Jurassic superfan Scarlett Johansson - along with the entire all-star cast of Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey.
Gareth reflects on the relevance of location based shooting, practical world building, why a healthy fear of tennis balls could come in handy and what it means to honor Jurassic lore, while making something new for the next generation.
Gareth talks paying homage to his predecessors (from Jaws to Jurassic), why he was literally watching grass grow on set, and what it was like working with fellow Jurassic superfan Scarlett Johansson - along with the entire all-star cast of Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey.
Gareth reflects on the relevance of location based shooting, practical world building, why a healthy fear of tennis balls could come in handy and what it means to honor Jurassic lore, while making something new for the next generation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of Seen on the Screen is brought to
you by Peacock Movies. Transport us to new worlds, connect
us to unlimited possibilities, and bring to life our wildest dreams.
With Peacock, It's all possible right from your living room.
Stream hit films from Universal Pictures, Illumination, Focus Features, DreamWorks, Animation,
(00:20):
and more. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, because
the best movies are home on Peacock.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Suddeny Frank came up and just gave me this phone
and I looked him. It was FaceTime and it was Spielberg.
He's like, hey, Garrett, Ray for this, and You're like, oh, hi, Hi, Hi,
Stephen Hi. He's like Santa Claus right in cinema.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hello, I'm Jaqueline Coley. Welcome to this special episode of
Seen on the Screen, brought to you by Make It
Universal and Rotten Tomatoes, where we talk movies with some
of the people behind the scenes at NBC Universal. When
entertainment works best, sometimes it opens a window into a
world we've never imagined. Other Times it shows us a
mirror image of our lives. It's a heightened sense of home.
(01:06):
Today we're going to dig into the question, what have
you seen on the screen that does that? I'm here
today with Gareth Edwards, director of Jurassic World Rebirth. Gareth,
Welcome to the podcast. Gareth, welcome to scene on the screen.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Thanks for having me. What I feel like I'm actually
back in Thailand.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I mean, yeah, you've been on such an incredible journey
with Jurassic World Rebirth. I really do have to start though,
before you get to direct movies in all these incredible
universes that you've got to play in. At first, you
were just a passionate film fan who bought a ticket
to a movie geek. I mean, I'm with you on that,
but I'm with you. I'm a cyner geek as well.
What was that first movie that really sort of sparked
(01:52):
this love of movie motion pictures or just going to
the movies or filmmaking.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I mean, look, I was I was born in an
era of be to Max. Right. My parents bought a
Max cassette player and I managed to get hold of
a copy of Star Wars and I watched it to
death as a kid every morning before school. And as
soon as I saw it, I was like, I know
exactly what I want to do for the rest of
my life. I want to join the Rebel Alliance and
(02:19):
help blow up the Death Star. And then you learn
that you can't do that because it's this giant lie
called being a filmmaker. Yeah, and so I was like, okay, well,
maybe the second best option is I'll become a filmmaker
and I'll tell lies to little kids about things they
can achieve. But not really it's like it's it's yeah,
it's basically making a film like this. It feels in
(02:40):
a weird way like the best case scenarios. You're trying
to pass that torch, that gauntlet to the kids in
the audience. Who when I know, when I saw the
original Drassic, I was not for six and and it
just cemented for me, like this is what I want
to do for the rest of my life. I don't
care how it happens, Like I do going to be
happy if I get to do this and so and
(03:02):
so like your goal as a filmmakers to try and
carry on that cycle. In some way, I think it's.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So crazy when you think about the filmmakers that you
learned from George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and then you think
about the worlds that you've played, and you've made a
Star Wars movie one of my favorites, Rogue one. You've
made now a Jurassic World movie, which is a part
of the Jurassic Park universe, and Saga, and you've also
made a Godzilla movie, which is another one where I
feel like a lot of people had that same sort
(03:29):
of spark with it. What do you think it is
about these franchises that not only have inspired you but
made you want to write your own chapter within them.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
No, it's funny. I don't know what it is. I
think it's the storytelling might used to always be. You know,
ran a campfire and some elder in a tribe would
tell some story, and as a little kid, you'd listen
to it and it really affects you. And then as
you got older, you would tell the kids the same story,
you know, And I think what you can argue with
(03:58):
franchise and IP is is that that same thing of
like you had told a story as a child, it
really affected you for the better, and as you got older,
you're itching to tell the same story to the next generation,
and so so being able to do Star Wars, Jurassic
God Tilla is I see it's like that. It's like
it's like these sort of timeless myths that you take
(04:22):
what you loved about the previous ones and you try
and add a little special thing of your own, mix
it in, and then people do with it what they
want in the next generation.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I do love that, and I love that folks are
going to get to see this and it's aftly titled
It's a rebirth Jurassic World. That's going to be so great.
All right, let's dive into a few of the things
that hopefully you've seen on the screen. So for this
first one, I'm going to be giving you a movie
quote and hopefully you'll recognize it as something that you've
seen on the screen. This one I really want to
(04:58):
talk to you about. They're not people, maya, they're just programming.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Ah well, that would be my previous film, The Creator.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I really do have to talk to you about this one,
because that one was such like a visual like achievement,
like the technology that you pioneered with that, like y'all
literally like wont awards for the sort of stuff that
you put behind the scenes. Thinking about that in Jurassic World,
talk about how you're really making this a very big
presentation that folks are gonna feel when they see it
on the screen.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, I mean, it's essentially it's like there are movies
that you could skip slightly and maybe you do catch
up with them on your TV at home one day,
and it's just not true of a Jurassic film, you
I mean, it's like it's an event movie. The best
way to think that you're looking at a thirty foot
dinosaur is to see a thirty foot dinosaur, you know,
(05:46):
on a giant screen. And so these whole things were
always conceived to be a theatrical experience, you know. And
and it's the look of this whole movie is very nostalgic,
Like we shot it on third five millimeters film. We
tried to give it that Kodak look from the films
of the eighties and nineties that we grew up loving
(06:07):
because we wanted it. I wanted to take kids back
to the feeling I had when I watched Dress at
Part the first time. And so we're definitely riffing off
that vocabulary and trying to trying to make it feel like,
you know, going back to that early Spielberg That is
the reason I fell in love with cinema.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
All right. One of the things when I sat here
with John m chu and he was talking about wickeds,
he talked about the nine million toolips that he planted.
I know, you guys filmed in Thailand and you had
all of these incredible things. What is something you can
ProView for us where it's like we really put the
what we say, the grand scale of universal pictures out
here to get this incredible shot. Can you preview anything
like that a great location or a great piece of
(06:49):
production design that y'all did.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, Well, one of them was grass. So there's a
scene sequence there's this tall grass in the movie, and
I wanted to do this really kind of quite beautiful
section of the film. I can't say too much, but
where something's hidden in these tall grass. We looked around Thailand.
There's no tool grass anyway. There was little bit patches
of it, but nothing on the scale we needed. So
then we were like, can we plant this stuff? And
(07:13):
they were like, you know, well, grass takes months to
grow and we were shooting in like four weeks. So
they flew the world's leading experts over. They looked at
this field. They went, Okay, I think we can do it.
They got this particular type of grass and they laid
this whole system and they had people twenty four to
seven watering the field and you're sitting there thinking, no
way is this going to work. And we came back
in three weeks and we actually panicked that it was
(07:34):
too big, we might have to cut some of it down.
And it was all of those things that only a
massive movie like this can do, where you stood there
and you're like, I can't believe this field didn't exist, like,
you know, a month ago, and it's and I'm so
glad we did it. It's this really beautiful section of
the movie.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I dig that. All Right, we're gonna do one more
of the quote questions, all right, here we go, God
help us. We're in the hands of the engineers.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Well that would be park.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
It will be Jurassic Park. Okay. I just have to
say I love hearing this story. You found out about
basically that they were going to make another Jurassic Rold
and they were looking for another director. And then you
nerded out and geeked out over a four page right
up like immediately like draft everything because it's correct.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
No, it was really weird. It was the day before.
So something I do that's a big I don't know
what it is A bit strange is I take one
of my favorite films and I sort of analyze it
and I write, I just write why it's so good?
And I tried to do it in a very like
general way so that I can like learn, like what's
happening with this story? Is it so strong? And for
(08:39):
whatever reason, I started putting Jurassic on for some other reason,
and then I was I started sitting there going, Okay,
I want to analyze this, and I'd seen it a
million times, but I just started going through, here's what
I love about this movie, and I write, like this
four page document saved. It was a little bit like,
I don't know why I did that. And then the
next day I got the call from my agent saying
Universal have been on the line and they're interested. Would
(09:00):
you be interested in doing a Jurassic film? And I
was like, and I said, like, that is so weird
because I just spent yesterday watching it for like six
hours writing up white it's so good, and so it
felt like the universe was sort of guy.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I feel that that is like, I mean, I've lived
in California, long enough, they say, live long enough and
you'll become like an astrology person. I'm like the stars aligned,
like there was something about your like your big three
that day.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I told you that. That same year, when it was
New Year's Eve, my girlfriend said, what do you want
to do this ne Ye's Eve? I was like, ah,
I just and so I said, let's go to Universal
Studios and just go on the rides. And we just
went on Jurassic World and then we went home. And
it was like, didn't know that that year was going
to be the year I directed a Jurassic World film,
So it was it was a bit, a bit weird.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I really hope that that continues.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That does feel like you were typing into something really
sort of special. So you did amazing. Let's go ahead
and take a peek into another one of our popcorn buckets,
and this one is true or false though. Okay, so
I'm going to tell you another movie that you've seen
on the screen. I'm going to give you a true
or false question about it, and then you could sort
of tell me if you have anything else to add
to it. True or false. Jurassic World Rebirth has several
(10:12):
key sequences that pay homage to Steven Spielberg's classic Jars.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
It definitely has one key sequence.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
One sequence. Can you preview a little bit for us
what's coming?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, I mean Stephen with David Kep kind of conceived
this movie together. And when I first read the screenplay,
what was so great about is is it had all
this Spielbergian DNA in the whole thing. And there was
sections in it, and especially this one section where I
was like, this is like Jaws, and I'd feel bad
(10:45):
like it was sacrilegious to do it if it wasn't
the fact that Spielberg was handing it to you. Yeah,
And so I had this amazing license to go and
make a film a little bit, you know, paying homage
to like one of my favorite films. Ever, Yah's basically
why they're unting the mosasaur. You'll see it in the
trailer and stuff. It's it's it's obviously not yours. You know,
(11:06):
there's a lot of differences, but the DNA is there. Yeah.
We went to the Mediterranean and shot the whole thing
on boats and then using this giant tank next to
the ocean to do all these crazy stunts and things,
and it was like a solid month just for this
one section.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So this is so interesting too about the Steven Spielberger resolved,
because I'm sure he hears this from every single person
who's ever picked up a camera about you know what
I mean or whatever. But what was it like working
with him on this and sort of, like you said,
having that person right there. I would imagine it'd be
scary no matter what, but a little bit easier knowing
that he was there to sort of help you with
Frank Marshall and everyone else.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, he's like the sort of person that shouldn't exist.
He's like Santa Claus right in cinema. Yeah, and he's
like he shouldn't be real, he shouldn't be a physical
person you can meet. So it's always weird, like when
you're end up in a room with him. Yeah, it
always throws me. And what really threw me because I
wasn't expecting it at all. We were on set. There's
a scene. I can't say too much about it, but
(12:03):
there's a scene where we had all the actors and
we're all on the edge of the water and it
was a night shoot, so we're in sync with America
being awake, and suddenly Frank came up and just gave
me this phone and I looked him. It was FaceTime
and it was Spielberg and he's like, hey, Gareth, you
know when you're just not ready for this and you're
like oh hi hi, and you're tired, and you're like,
oh hi, hi, Hi, Stephen hi, and then like quickly
(12:25):
pulling in the actors going yeah, and he was chatting
to us and he was really happy with what you're seeing,
and so it was it was like a great moment,
but it's all very surreal, Like I honestly, it's only
now getting to this place where the film's going to
come out that you realize that you've maybe you know,
(12:46):
made a Jurassic film because in it we were just
our heads down every shot, every day, yeah, twenty four
to seven, just like keep going, keep going. And you
suddenly surface and I see like family members sending me
Dr Pepper with with you know, one of our creatures
on the side of the box, and you're like, hang on,
how do they get that? That's just from our edit? Sweet,
(13:07):
that's there. You realize this is way bigger than us,
you know, and.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
That's saying something you've done some big movies already, and
I will say if Steven Spielberg is sort of like
Santa Claus, I feel like you got three fairy godmothers
between herschel Ali, Johnny Bailey, and Scarlett Johansson. Talk about
this cast that you assembled, because I do feel like
it is another moment where you're sort of like dying
in Riches.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yes, well, that was what was so exciting about the
screenplay was that the characters really popped out and the
dynamic between them was really strong. And as a filmmaker,
like one of the hardest things to do is get
that the characters right, and so the fact that was
already there, it was felt a bit like God, you know,
as long as I don't drop the ball, we can
have a really nice film. And so and then we
(13:50):
ended up getting like Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett and Myhrschler.
And it's an embarrassment of Riches because they would make
the editing really difficult because normally, when you shoot film,
you know I'm talking to you, you get me talking
and then I'll get you listening as well, right, And
normally you'd be lucky on an actor to get one
one moment you could use where they're listening, and instead
(14:11):
you get like ten moments where like you're feeling all
their internal thoughts. And so it was really slow to
edit any scene because everyone's like, everything's really good. Yeah,
you could go to them, that's really nice over there,
and so so it kind of slows you down when
you've got that much talent. But I would take that
any day over the other version.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I mean, yeah, I mean listen, let's just give us
the outtakes when it goes peacock and when it goes
on to physical media, just make sure we can get
all of the lovely blueper reels if they ever did
actually mess up or like not, I'm a great.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh there's plenty of that. Another thing is we're all
big kids, oh wow, and so there's a lot of
messing around as well, Like there's a lot of outtakes
of I don't know if we can ever show them,
but it was very playful environment.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Actually all right bts behind the scenes. I would really
like to see these guys help me out. Let's do
one more true or false For your twenty ten film Monsters.
You created all two hundred and fifty visual effects shots
yourself at home.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, I didn't have a choice. You didn't have a choice.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You're like, there was nobody else to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, I didn't have the money to go to the
industry light magic.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Well this is true. Well, talk about coming from that
moment of just like pure indie filmmaking and just trying
to make something happen to now working with Jurassic World,
where there's a ton of visual effects. Obviously we don't
have dinosaurs, but there was also a real almost like
practical feeling to everything that they did in that first one.
How did you sort of marry that over to make
(15:38):
even though there were a lot of visual effects, it
still feel like you created these creatures from nothing.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I think the thing, if if I learned anything from
Divisual Effects, is that it's always great to start with
as much as you possibly can, so like, rather than
there's this temptation modern filmmaking to make a big green screen,
build a little set, and then put it all in
the computer afterwards, and it's really hard to make things
look good like that, it's way better even if you
(16:06):
end up replacing everything to go shoot someone outside in
real location and have performers play the dinosaurs and everything,
and you shoot it as if you're also looking at it,
and then it makes life a lot, you know, more
realistic when the visual effects, you know, then do their work.
And so I don't know if it's a good thing
or bright. I think you have to ask the visual effects.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Because you were one of them, Like you acted out
a few of these. Let's talk about other people. Apparently
you were on set like acting out some of the
dinosaurs and some of the shots. Is this correct?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Well, the actors you do it just subconsciously and you go,
you know, and it comes in and it does this,
and they be like, do it again, do it again,
because they just want to embarrass you. And then you
just see someone filming you. You like go, oh no, yeah,
I get very self conscious around the cameras.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Oh well, I'm sure you did great. I just love
that you're like, yeah, I will, I will act it out.
But I love how you're thinking. It's like it's just
them taking the mickey out of you. Basically you're like,
this is not for real. They're actors. They can do
it without me exactly like you could act to a
tennis ball scarlet. Johansen, you'd be right.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Something something I found If you want to be an
actor and successful actor in Hollywood is you've got to
be really scared of tennis balls. Really, if something traumatic
happened to like like your your parents were killed at Wimbledon,
you're going to go.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Far if you can make that a tennis well. I
dig that. I can't wait for FoST to see it. Garret,
thank you so much for chatting with me on the
things that you've seen on the screen. And yeah, I
can't wait to see it.
This episode of Seen on the Screen is brought to
you by Peacock Movies. Transport us to new worlds, connect
us to unlimited possibilities, and bring to life our wildest dreams.
With Peacock, It's all possible right from your living room.
Stream hit films from Universal Pictures, Illumination, Focus Features, DreamWorks, Animation,
(00:20):
and more. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, because
the best movies are home on Peacock.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Suddeny Frank came up and just gave me this phone
and I looked him. It was FaceTime and it was Spielberg.
He's like, hey, Garrett, Ray for this, and You're like, oh, hi, Hi, Hi,
Stephen Hi. He's like Santa Claus right in cinema.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hello, I'm Jaqueline Coley. Welcome to this special episode of
Seen on the Screen, brought to you by Make It
Universal and Rotten Tomatoes, where we talk movies with some
of the people behind the scenes at NBC Universal. When
entertainment works best, sometimes it opens a window into a
world we've never imagined. Other Times it shows us a
mirror image of our lives. It's a heightened sense of home.
(01:06):
Today we're going to dig into the question, what have
you seen on the screen that does that? I'm here
today with Gareth Edwards, director of Jurassic World Rebirth. Gareth,
Welcome to the podcast. Gareth, welcome to scene on the screen.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Thanks for having me. What I feel like I'm actually
back in Thailand.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I mean, yeah, you've been on such an incredible journey
with Jurassic World Rebirth. I really do have to start though,
before you get to direct movies in all these incredible
universes that you've got to play in. At first, you
were just a passionate film fan who bought a ticket
to a movie geek. I mean, I'm with you on that,
but I'm with you. I'm a cyner geek as well.
What was that first movie that really sort of sparked
(01:52):
this love of movie motion pictures or just going to
the movies or filmmaking.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I mean, look, I was I was born in an
era of be to Max. Right. My parents bought a
Max cassette player and I managed to get hold of
a copy of Star Wars and I watched it to
death as a kid every morning before school. And as
soon as I saw it, I was like, I know
exactly what I want to do for the rest of
my life. I want to join the Rebel Alliance and
(02:19):
help blow up the Death Star. And then you learn
that you can't do that because it's this giant lie
called being a filmmaker. Yeah, and so I was like, okay, well,
maybe the second best option is I'll become a filmmaker
and I'll tell lies to little kids about things they
can achieve. But not really it's like it's it's yeah,
it's basically making a film like this. It feels in
(02:40):
a weird way like the best case scenarios. You're trying
to pass that torch, that gauntlet to the kids in
the audience. Who when I know, when I saw the
original Drassic, I was not for six and and it
just cemented for me, like this is what I want
to do for the rest of my life. I don't
care how it happens, Like I do going to be
happy if I get to do this and so and
(03:02):
so like your goal as a filmmakers to try and
carry on that cycle. In some way, I think it's.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So crazy when you think about the filmmakers that you
learned from George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and then you think
about the worlds that you've played, and you've made a
Star Wars movie one of my favorites, Rogue one. You've
made now a Jurassic World movie, which is a part
of the Jurassic Park universe, and Saga, and you've also
made a Godzilla movie, which is another one where I
feel like a lot of people had that same sort
(03:29):
of spark with it. What do you think it is
about these franchises that not only have inspired you but
made you want to write your own chapter within them.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
No, it's funny. I don't know what it is. I
think it's the storytelling might used to always be. You know,
ran a campfire and some elder in a tribe would
tell some story, and as a little kid, you'd listen
to it and it really affects you. And then as
you got older, you would tell the kids the same story,
you know, And I think what you can argue with
(03:58):
franchise and IP is is that that same thing of
like you had told a story as a child, it
really affected you for the better, and as you got older,
you're itching to tell the same story to the next generation,
and so so being able to do Star Wars, Jurassic
God Tilla is I see it's like that. It's like
it's like these sort of timeless myths that you take
(04:22):
what you loved about the previous ones and you try
and add a little special thing of your own, mix
it in, and then people do with it what they
want in the next generation.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I do love that, and I love that folks are
going to get to see this and it's aftly titled
It's a rebirth Jurassic World. That's going to be so great.
All right, let's dive into a few of the things
that hopefully you've seen on the screen. So for this
first one, I'm going to be giving you a movie
quote and hopefully you'll recognize it as something that you've
seen on the screen. This one I really want to
(04:58):
talk to you about. They're not people, maya, they're just programming.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Ah well, that would be my previous film, The Creator.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I really do have to talk to you about this one,
because that one was such like a visual like achievement,
like the technology that you pioneered with that, like y'all
literally like wont awards for the sort of stuff that
you put behind the scenes. Thinking about that in Jurassic World,
talk about how you're really making this a very big
presentation that folks are gonna feel when they see it
on the screen.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, I mean, it's essentially it's like there are movies
that you could skip slightly and maybe you do catch
up with them on your TV at home one day,
and it's just not true of a Jurassic film, you
I mean, it's like it's an event movie. The best
way to think that you're looking at a thirty foot
dinosaur is to see a thirty foot dinosaur, you know,
(05:46):
on a giant screen. And so these whole things were
always conceived to be a theatrical experience, you know. And
and it's the look of this whole movie is very nostalgic,
Like we shot it on third five millimeters film. We
tried to give it that Kodak look from the films
of the eighties and nineties that we grew up loving
(06:07):
because we wanted it. I wanted to take kids back
to the feeling I had when I watched Dress at
Part the first time. And so we're definitely riffing off
that vocabulary and trying to trying to make it feel like,
you know, going back to that early Spielberg That is
the reason I fell in love with cinema.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
All right. One of the things when I sat here
with John m chu and he was talking about wickeds,
he talked about the nine million toolips that he planted.
I know, you guys filmed in Thailand and you had
all of these incredible things. What is something you can
ProView for us where it's like we really put the
what we say, the grand scale of universal pictures out
here to get this incredible shot. Can you preview anything
like that a great location or a great piece of
(06:49):
production design that y'all did.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, Well, one of them was grass. So there's a
scene sequence there's this tall grass in the movie, and
I wanted to do this really kind of quite beautiful
section of the film. I can't say too much, but
where something's hidden in these tall grass. We looked around Thailand.
There's no tool grass anyway. There was little bit patches
of it, but nothing on the scale we needed. So
then we were like, can we plant this stuff? And
(07:13):
they were like, you know, well, grass takes months to
grow and we were shooting in like four weeks. So
they flew the world's leading experts over. They looked at
this field. They went, Okay, I think we can do it.
They got this particular type of grass and they laid
this whole system and they had people twenty four to
seven watering the field and you're sitting there thinking, no
way is this going to work. And we came back
in three weeks and we actually panicked that it was
(07:34):
too big, we might have to cut some of it down.
And it was all of those things that only a
massive movie like this can do, where you stood there
and you're like, I can't believe this field didn't exist, like,
you know, a month ago, and it's and I'm so
glad we did it. It's this really beautiful section of
the movie.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I dig that. All Right, we're gonna do one more
of the quote questions, all right, here we go, God
help us. We're in the hands of the engineers.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Well that would be park.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
It will be Jurassic Park. Okay. I just have to
say I love hearing this story. You found out about
basically that they were going to make another Jurassic Rold
and they were looking for another director. And then you
nerded out and geeked out over a four page right
up like immediately like draft everything because it's correct.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
No, it was really weird. It was the day before.
So something I do that's a big I don't know
what it is A bit strange is I take one
of my favorite films and I sort of analyze it
and I write, I just write why it's so good?
And I tried to do it in a very like
general way so that I can like learn, like what's
happening with this story? Is it so strong? And for
(08:39):
whatever reason, I started putting Jurassic on for some other reason,
and then I was I started sitting there going, Okay,
I want to analyze this, and I'd seen it a
million times, but I just started going through, here's what
I love about this movie, and I write, like this
four page document saved. It was a little bit like,
I don't know why I did that. And then the
next day I got the call from my agent saying
Universal have been on the line and they're interested. Would
(09:00):
you be interested in doing a Jurassic film? And I
was like, and I said, like, that is so weird
because I just spent yesterday watching it for like six
hours writing up white it's so good, and so it
felt like the universe was sort of guy.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I feel that that is like, I mean, I've lived
in California, long enough, they say, live long enough and
you'll become like an astrology person. I'm like the stars aligned,
like there was something about your like your big three
that day.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I told you that. That same year, when it was
New Year's Eve, my girlfriend said, what do you want
to do this ne Ye's Eve? I was like, ah,
I just and so I said, let's go to Universal
Studios and just go on the rides. And we just
went on Jurassic World and then we went home. And
it was like, didn't know that that year was going
to be the year I directed a Jurassic World film,
So it was it was a bit, a bit weird.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I really hope that that continues.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That does feel like you were typing into something really
sort of special. So you did amazing. Let's go ahead
and take a peek into another one of our popcorn buckets,
and this one is true or false though. Okay, so
I'm going to tell you another movie that you've seen
on the screen. I'm going to give you a true
or false question about it, and then you could sort
of tell me if you have anything else to add
to it. True or false. Jurassic World Rebirth has several
(10:12):
key sequences that pay homage to Steven Spielberg's classic Jars.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
It definitely has one key sequence.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
One sequence. Can you preview a little bit for us
what's coming?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, I mean Stephen with David Kep kind of conceived
this movie together. And when I first read the screenplay,
what was so great about is is it had all
this Spielbergian DNA in the whole thing. And there was
sections in it, and especially this one section where I
was like, this is like Jaws, and I'd feel bad
(10:45):
like it was sacrilegious to do it if it wasn't
the fact that Spielberg was handing it to you. Yeah,
And so I had this amazing license to go and
make a film a little bit, you know, paying homage
to like one of my favorite films. Ever, Yah's basically
why they're unting the mosasaur. You'll see it in the
trailer and stuff. It's it's it's obviously not yours. You know,
(11:06):
there's a lot of differences, but the DNA is there. Yeah.
We went to the Mediterranean and shot the whole thing
on boats and then using this giant tank next to
the ocean to do all these crazy stunts and things,
and it was like a solid month just for this
one section.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So this is so interesting too about the Steven Spielberger resolved,
because I'm sure he hears this from every single person
who's ever picked up a camera about you know what
I mean or whatever. But what was it like working
with him on this and sort of, like you said,
having that person right there. I would imagine it'd be
scary no matter what, but a little bit easier knowing
that he was there to sort of help you with
Frank Marshall and everyone else.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, he's like the sort of person that shouldn't exist.
He's like Santa Claus right in cinema. Yeah, and he's
like he shouldn't be real, he shouldn't be a physical
person you can meet. So it's always weird, like when
you're end up in a room with him. Yeah, it
always throws me. And what really threw me because I
wasn't expecting it at all. We were on set. There's
a scene. I can't say too much about it, but
(12:03):
there's a scene where we had all the actors and
we're all on the edge of the water and it
was a night shoot, so we're in sync with America
being awake, and suddenly Frank came up and just gave
me this phone and I looked him. It was FaceTime
and it was Spielberg and he's like, hey, Gareth, you
know when you're just not ready for this and you're
like oh hi hi, and you're tired, and you're like,
oh hi, hi, Hi, Stephen hi, and then like quickly
(12:25):
pulling in the actors going yeah, and he was chatting
to us and he was really happy with what you're seeing,
and so it was it was like a great moment,
but it's all very surreal, Like I honestly, it's only
now getting to this place where the film's going to
come out that you realize that you've maybe you know,
(12:46):
made a Jurassic film because in it we were just
our heads down every shot, every day, yeah, twenty four
to seven, just like keep going, keep going. And you
suddenly surface and I see like family members sending me
Dr Pepper with with you know, one of our creatures
on the side of the box, and you're like, hang on,
how do they get that? That's just from our edit? Sweet,
(13:07):
that's there. You realize this is way bigger than us,
you know, and.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
That's saying something you've done some big movies already, and
I will say if Steven Spielberg is sort of like
Santa Claus, I feel like you got three fairy godmothers
between herschel Ali, Johnny Bailey, and Scarlett Johansson. Talk about
this cast that you assembled, because I do feel like
it is another moment where you're sort of like dying
in Riches.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yes, well, that was what was so exciting about the
screenplay was that the characters really popped out and the
dynamic between them was really strong. And as a filmmaker,
like one of the hardest things to do is get
that the characters right, and so the fact that was
already there, it was felt a bit like God, you know,
as long as I don't drop the ball, we can
have a really nice film. And so and then we
(13:50):
ended up getting like Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett and Myhrschler.
And it's an embarrassment of Riches because they would make
the editing really difficult because normally, when you shoot film,
you know I'm talking to you, you get me talking
and then I'll get you listening as well, right, And
normally you'd be lucky on an actor to get one
one moment you could use where they're listening, and instead
(14:11):
you get like ten moments where like you're feeling all
their internal thoughts. And so it was really slow to
edit any scene because everyone's like, everything's really good. Yeah,
you could go to them, that's really nice over there,
and so so it kind of slows you down when
you've got that much talent. But I would take that
any day over the other version.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I mean, yeah, I mean listen, let's just give us
the outtakes when it goes peacock and when it goes
on to physical media, just make sure we can get
all of the lovely blueper reels if they ever did
actually mess up or like not, I'm a great.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh there's plenty of that. Another thing is we're all
big kids, oh wow, and so there's a lot of
messing around as well, Like there's a lot of outtakes
of I don't know if we can ever show them,
but it was very playful environment.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Actually all right bts behind the scenes. I would really
like to see these guys help me out. Let's do
one more true or false For your twenty ten film Monsters.
You created all two hundred and fifty visual effects shots
yourself at home.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, I didn't have a choice. You didn't have a choice.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You're like, there was nobody else to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, I didn't have the money to go to the
industry light magic.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Well this is true. Well, talk about coming from that
moment of just like pure indie filmmaking and just trying
to make something happen to now working with Jurassic World,
where there's a ton of visual effects. Obviously we don't
have dinosaurs, but there was also a real almost like
practical feeling to everything that they did in that first one.
How did you sort of marry that over to make
(15:38):
even though there were a lot of visual effects, it
still feel like you created these creatures from nothing.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I think the thing, if if I learned anything from
Divisual Effects, is that it's always great to start with
as much as you possibly can, so like, rather than
there's this temptation modern filmmaking to make a big green screen,
build a little set, and then put it all in
the computer afterwards, and it's really hard to make things
look good like that, it's way better even if you
(16:06):
end up replacing everything to go shoot someone outside in
real location and have performers play the dinosaurs and everything,
and you shoot it as if you're also looking at it,
and then it makes life a lot, you know, more
realistic when the visual effects, you know, then do their work.
And so I don't know if it's a good thing
or bright. I think you have to ask the visual effects.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Because you were one of them, Like you acted out
a few of these. Let's talk about other people. Apparently
you were on set like acting out some of the
dinosaurs and some of the shots. Is this correct?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Well, the actors you do it just subconsciously and you go,
you know, and it comes in and it does this,
and they be like, do it again, do it again,
because they just want to embarrass you. And then you
just see someone filming you. You like go, oh no, yeah,
I get very self conscious around the cameras.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Oh well, I'm sure you did great. I just love
that you're like, yeah, I will, I will act it out.
But I love how you're thinking. It's like it's just
them taking the mickey out of you. Basically you're like,
this is not for real. They're actors. They can do
it without me exactly like you could act to a
tennis ball scarlet. Johansen, you'd be right.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Something something I found If you want to be an
actor and successful actor in Hollywood is you've got to
be really scared of tennis balls. Really, if something traumatic
happened to like like your your parents were killed at Wimbledon,
you're going to go.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Far if you can make that a tennis well. I
dig that. I can't wait for FoST to see it. Garret,
thank you so much for chatting with me on the
things that you've seen on the screen. And yeah, I
can't wait to see it.
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