Jurassic Park Script
EXTREME CLOSEUP of glowing honey-colored stones. Their shapes ABSTRACT
as THE CAMERA EXAMINES air bubbles and crystalline patterns.
MOVING UP AND OVER this amber abstraction, the CAMERA FINDS unusual
shapes and imperfections caught in the glassy stone: flecks of dirt,
hairs, cracks. STILL MOVING. STARBURSTS OF LIGHT ricochet off the
different surfaces of the stones.
CAMERA TURNS along a creamy stretch of amber. IT TURNS IN DEEPER,
abstracting the picture further only to find A TINY BLUR that suddenly
RACKS INTO FOCUS - a bug, a mosquito lodged within an amber tomb. It is
folded on its back.
SLOW MOTION
as the tip of a fine-pointed drill bores into the amber
toward the trapped bug. Orange flecks fly. The mosquito trembles. The
drill continues, stopping just before it touches the tiny body.
A SHINY PAIR of thin needle-nose pliers reach in the borehole and
extricate the mosquito remains. These are dropped on a brightly lit
glass slide. A conveyor belt starts, and the slide moves along.
arriving under a long-lensed microscope.
IN MICROSCOPIC PERSPECTIVE, a thin needle pierces the bug and delicately
removes a fragment of tissue.
PINCERS snare the fragment, dropping it into a narrow tube. The tube
SPINS, faster and faster until it is a BLUR on the screen.
THE SCREEN FLOODS with an INFRA-RED LIGHT. Gray, oval shapes rock in a
neutral mist.
WASH OUT TO:
HOT SUN overhead in a BIG SKY -
EXT BADLANDS - AFTERNOON
Lodged in the cracked earth are the partially-exposed fossilized remains
of A VELOCIRAPTER, a carnivorous dinosaur. WIDEN OUT to a SWEEPI
NG
PANORAMA of a dinosaur dig, a major excavation filled with workers
shoveling earth and stone, making measurements, taking photographs,
scribbling notes, and conferring with each other.
The center of all this activity is one man. In a roped-off area that
circumscribes the exposed bones of the raptor, is DR. ALAN GRANT, head
paleontologist. Good-looking, late 30’s, with a think beard.
Grant lies on his belly, completely absorbed in a small piece of bone.
A GROUP OF TWELVE STUDENTS, notebooks in hand, await his next sentence.
CLOSE ON - the tiny bone. Grant’s nose touches it.
Grant brushes the bone with a toothbrush. Then he decides on a quicker
way to clean it. He licks it. Excited by his discovery, he gets to his
feet and addresses his students, who listen raptly.
GRANT
Right calcaneus of an adult female
raptor. Mild stress fractures. What’s
this tell me?
Students look at each other. A tentative hand. Grant continues.
GRANT
It tells me that this bone connects to
the navicula which we already found
articulating to the cuboid.
OFFSCREEN, a woman SHOUTS to him.
ELLIE (off)
Dr. Grant! Dr. Grant!
Grant looks up.
DR. ELLIE SATTLER, late 20’s, sharp-eyed, tough if she wants to be, runs
like a gazelle across the arid land. Exuberant, she leaves a trail of
dust behind her.
She zips by A STUDENT guarding the cordoned area. He tries to stop her.
STUDENT
Dr. Sattler! Dr. Grant is thinking!
Dr. Grant waves her over enthusiastically with his bone and continues.
GRANT
So, what can we stay for sure? Stress
fractures in the heel ...
Uncertain students. Ellie arrives and immediately gets into it.
ELLIE
She jumps.
Grant turns around to her and smiles. She’s got it. Other students to
- they knew is all along.
GRANT
Right as rain, Ellie. Now, why did she
jump?
No answer. Ellie gives it a try.
ELLIE
A defensive posture against a vicious,
blood-thirsty T-Rex?
GRANT
(nodding)
Perhaps. Or maybe to select the smaller,
more tender leaves in the higher branches
with which to suckle her young?
Ellie jumps up.
ELLIE
I bet is was a mating ritual.
Students laugh. One student eyes Grant’s self-conscious smile at Ellie.
GRANT
The science of paleontology can’t answer
these questions. Novelists and artists
who dream a vision of the Jurassic period
can attempt these questions with their
imaginations. What we scientists can say
is considering the mass and kinetic
articulation of these bones, this animal
had a vertical leap
of about twelve feet.
Not as entertaining as fiction, but
absolutely fact without prejudice.
Ellie intrudes again.
ELLIE
Excuse me, Dr. Grant. But ... fact is,
we’re late. There’s the car.
She points. On the horizon, a limousine speeds toward them, leaving a
dusty wake.
Grant sets the rules for his departure, giving instructions individually
as Ellie pulls him away, carrying their bags.
GRANT
Jim, you keep making up the plaster
batches. Whatever ratio you’re using,
it’s perfect. Nora, no digging after
five - when the temperature drops, those
bones are just too brittle. Bill, I
don’t want any tourists walking over my
raptor - I don’t care if the Governor of
Montana is with them, just you guys.
Grant and Ellie continue walking. She interrupts his continued barrage.
ELLIE
You know, if ev
ery scientist stuck to his
method like you, there would be no body
of theory - no quasars, no big bang -
Grant stops at the sight of the stopped limo and freezes.
GRANT
Jesus, a limousine. We’re re-entering
Hammond’s world, that’s for sure. (beat)
Remind me why we’re doing this, Ellie.
Ellie is gentle. She’s telling him something they’ve discussed before.
ELLIE
We’re leaving the raptor dig -
GRANT
- at a critical time -
ELLIE
- because Gennaro is paying us sixty
thousand dollars to observe some resort
of Hammond’s in Costa Rica. And that’s -
GRANT
- enough money to keep us free of
commercial affiliations for two summers.
All right, all right. Good.
Then, half-kidding with Ellie:
GRANT
Financial
independence for fraternizing
with the enemy? (beat) I’ll do it.
She laughs. But he can’t quite leave. He grabs a computer printout
GRANT
This is all could come up with, Skip?
Skip turns the printout right-side up in Grant’s hand. Grant smiles.
GRANT
Wise guy. Let’s go, Ellie.
Grant and Ellie board the limo amidst many goodbyes from the students.
The limo pulls away.
EXT HIGH TECH BUILDING - BIOGENETIC CORPORATION HQ - SUNSET
A purple sunset irradiates the exterior glass walls of the building.
INT BIOGEN HQ
A peanut flies in the air. Then falls into a big open mouth. THOMP.
MOUTH
Five hundred thousand is peanuts!
He tosses another peanut and misses his open mouth. This is DENNIS
NEDRY, a 40 year old computer programmer. He’s fat, with greasy hair
and a permanently wrinkled suit. His slovenly looks are wildly out of
place on the rich leather sofa where he reclin
es.
Across a gleaming granite coffee table is BILL BAKER, businessman. A
smooth meticulous dresser, Baker is disgusted by Nedry’s sloppy
appearance and voracious consumption of food and drink.
Nedry finishes a coke. Over his shoulder is an impressive skyline view.
NEDRY
I’m not reneging. I’m re-evaluating.
Nedry holds the can of coke upside-down, drains the last drops.
NEDRY
You think I’m a scumbag, I know.
Nedry chuckles, lines up three peanuts on the table. One after the
other, he throws them in the air. He gulps down two, misses one. It
skids across the glossy floor.
Baker’s head involuntarily cocks as he looks disgustedly at Nedry.
NEDRY
Look pal, you make a career in biogenetic
industrial espionage, and you’re bound to
run across a scumbag or two. Guaranteed!
Part of the job description. Look, who’s
to say, who is the real scumbag? After
all, I know what you guys need so bad.
I’ve heard of reverse engineering.
As Nedry continues he shovels nuts into his mouth and CHOMPS and SPEAKS.
NEDRY
Let the other guy put in all the work,
all the R and D. You take the finished
product, work backwards, breaking it down
to reveal its genetic code. Presto! In
a few measly months you have know-how
that took researchers ten years to
determine. You know how much Hammond has
invested of his own personal wealth?
Over five billion dollars! And if you
guys get the jump on his - in no time,
the market’s wide-open.
Nedry starts the LAUGH as he EATS and TALKS.
NEDRY
But, boy, he’s really got his product!
Oh yes siree, massive, gargantuan, money-
making, never-heard-of-profit-like-that
product. It is a sight! Yes, indeedy!
Nedry LAUGH
S explosively. He begins to choke, COUGHING and GASPING.
Baker is repulsed. He stares out the window as the sun sets.
Nedry, in true distress, clutches his own throat. He clumsily runs
toward Baker, toppling chairs as he goes. Nedry grabs Baker’s hand and
squeezes it tightly, imploring Baker for help. Baker coolly shakes his
hand loose and shoves Nedry to the floor. Baker looks down at the prone
and desperate Nedry.
BAKER
Scumbag. We have a deal. That deal is
not open to renegotiation. Or even re-
evaluation.
Bakers kneels down next to Nedry, who is beginning to turn blue.
BAKER
The deal stands. Take it or leave it.
Baker glances at his watch.
BAKER
I’ll give you a few minutes to decide.
Nedry makes a superhuman effort just to nod his head. Baker nods back
and SLAMS his fist into Nedry’s solar plexus. It works.
Nedry sucks in a huge gulp of air. He sits up
, rubbing his belly. As
Baker leaves the room:
BAKER
Make sure the eggs are on that supply
ship. Just make sure!
CAMERA LEAVES NEDRY and exits the window. IT SWISHPANS the concrete
canyons of Wall Street and enters another office.
INT CONSERVATIVE LAW OFFICE - DAY
DONALD GENNARO, handsome, meticulously dressed, paces the highly
polished, glassy corner suite. His boss, ROSS, is seated. He’s a
powerful black man who waves a prosthetic arm.
ROSS
We can’t trust Hammond anymore. He’s
under too much pressure. There’s the
EPA, he’s behind schedule, and the in-
vestors are getting nervous. There have
been too many rumors, too many accidents.
We can’t screw around with this.
GENNARO
I’ve asked Hammond to arrange independent
site inspections every week for the next
three weeks.
ROS
S
What does he say?
GENNARO
Insists nothing’s wrong on the island.
ROSS
You know him. Do you believe him?
GENNARO
No, I don’t. I spent a lot of time with
him five years ago when we raised the
capital. And it was a wild ride. He’s
unpredictable, a dreamer.
ROSS
Potentially dangerous. We should never
have gotten involved. What’s our position?
GENNARO
The firm owns five percent.
ROSS
General or limited?
GENNARO
General.
ROSS
We should have never done that.
GENNARO
It seemed wise at the time. We all
wanted the park to happen. It was in
lieu of fees.
ROSS
In any case, I agree an inspection is
overdue. Who are your site experts?
Gennaro tosses a list on Ross’ desk. He check it out.
ROSS
Will they tell the truth?
GENNARO
I think so. That guy Grant’s a hotshot
in his field, always goes his own way -
ROSS
- Good. You’re making all the arrangements?
GENNARO
Hammond asked to place the calls himself.
I think he wants to pretend the park is
not in trouble. That it’s just a social
invitation, showing off the island.
ROSS
All right ... Good. But let’s be very
clear about one thing. I don’t know how
bad this situation actually is, Donald.
But if there’s a problem on that island -
don’t be afraid to screw Hammond and burn
Jurassic Park to the ground.
Gennaro shakes hands
awkwardly with Ross and leaves. Ross paces. Fed-
up, he whispers to himself.
ROSS
Costa Rica, my ass.
He whacks his desk globe, sends its spinning.
CAMERA MOVES IN on spinning globe as we HEAR the ROTOR BLADES of a
helicopter and DISSOLVE TO:
INT/EXT HELICOPTER IN SKY - DAWN
On the helicopter tail is a little blue logo that reads: Isla Nublar.
INSIDE, Grant, Ellie and Gennaro are in the right back row. Ellie
dozes, her head occasionally dropping onto Grant’s shoulder, to his
discomfort. Gennaro looks at papers, trying not to look through the
clear plexi-bubble at their feet. Next to THE PILOT, Nedry chews a
candy bar. He offers candy to the back row.
Grant loses himself, looking out the window.
GRANT’S POV - the aquamarine blue of the ocean. Below the waters there
are the shadows of ample marine life. Dolphins leap in the air.
Suddenly the clear scene becomes obscured by clouds.
There is turbulence. Ellie wakes, glances at Grant, then out the
window.
There is mist and she absently traces her finger in it, shaping
a dinosaur figure. Now land comes into view and for a moment, the
island below them eerily fits right into her doodling.
PILOT
That’s Isla Nublar. Buckle up, the
descent is a little hairy.
Gennaro cinches his belt tightly and half-shuts his eyes. Nedry takes
out a sandwich and cockily loosens his belt. Ellie looks every way.
ELLIE
This is exciting!
GRANT
What is, Ellie? Where are we going?
Grant looks out his window. The helicopter rushes forward, low to the
water. Ahead, Grant sees the island, rugged and craggy, rising sharply
GRANT
Looks like Alcatraz.
The pilot coughs and rubs his goggles with the back of his hand.
PILOT
There’s bad wind shear on this peak.
Grant nods. Gennaro sweats, watching the pilot tighten his own belt.
Ellie
smiles excitedly as the helicopter starts down. Now, A BLANKET
FOG. Grant can’t see a thing out his window. Ellie’s startled.
ELLIE
How the hell is he landing this thing?
No answer. Grant dimly discerns green branches of pine trees through
the mist. Some are very close. Ellie’s hands grasps her seat cushion.
ELLIE
This is not fun.
Grant looks through the plexi-bubble at his feet. He sees the giant
glowing fluorescent cross below. Lights FLASH at corners of the cross.
GRANT
Relax, Ellie. I’m sure they wouldn’t
land if it weren’t safe.
The copter suddenly SHAKES violently. Ellie grabs Grant’s hand.
Gennaro sits straight up, eyes squeezed shut.
GRANT
Gennaro? This guy knows what he’s doing,
Right? Hey, Gennaro? I’m talking to you!
Another violent shake. Grant squeezes Ellie’s hand back.
CLOSEUP - Nedry’s hand crushes a
packet of crackers.
Gennaro is soaked. He opens one eye and looks about, very frightened.
He speaks a mantra.
GENNARO
No problem. Relax, relax.
The pilot whispers to himself and corrects slightly. The copter sails
sharply the other way.
GRANT AND ELLIE
Whoa!!!!
CLOSE ON - the pilot jerks back the stick.
THE COPTER zooms upward. Grant’s beverage flips to the ground, pours
across the floor.
Nedry’s lunch does flying. Sandwich, candy, and cracker crumbs hang
suspended in the air. Now it all FREE-FALLS onto Nedry’s lap.
Grant and Ellie lean tightly into each other,
ELLIE
I don’t like this feeling ...
The pilot swings his gaze, left then right, looking at the pine forest.
Trees are close, then far, then close. The helicopter drops rapidly.
Ellie and Grant shut their eyes. They brace themselves for the worst.
IN AND OUT OF THE MIST, the copter descends. Tail raised high, nose
low, fo
r a moment it looks like a strange bug-eyes prehistoric animal
bucking in its pen. In a flash, it corrects itself. The copter touches
down on a heli-pad. The SOUND of the rotors fades and dies.
For a second, no one moves. Grant lets out a great sigh of relief.
Gennaro mouths a silent prayer. The pilot stretches his fingers.
Grant and Ellie self-consciously shake their hands free of each other.
Nedry unbuckles and laughs as he brushes off his lap. He turns:
NEDRY
Just think, Gennaro -
(laughs harder)
- you gotta agree it’s funny! These two,
they dig up dinosaurs! It’s wonderful,
isn’t it?
Nedry pats Grant on his shoulder.
NEDRY
Dr. Bones, you’re going to love this place.
Nedry bursts out laughing again as he heads out the helicopter door.
A smile comes across Gennaro’s face. As he smiles he motions with his
hands he doesn’t mean any harm. Grant and Ellie stare at him.
PILOT
Come on folks. Gotta get back, there’s a
storm alert.
ROTORS TURN. OUTSIDE, a man reaches the copter. He wears a baseball
cap over short red hair and he’s dressed in phony safari garb. He
shakes Gennaro’s hand. This is ED REGIS, 35, head of Public Relations.
He throws open the copter door next to Grant. Big, cheerful smile.
REGIS
Hi! Ed Regis. Real big welcome to Isla
Nublar, Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler. Little
tough landing here, I know. But you did
it! Come on down, we’re so happy to have
you. Now, watch your step.
Ellie and Grant jump into the world of Jurassic Park.
EXT LUSH TROPICAL FOREST - MORNING
Grant takes in the beautiful tropical terrain. This place is the
opposite of the Badlands. There is elaborate planting everywhere:
huge, hairy ferns; exotic, spiked flowers; berries of every color;
rushing vines. Peeking through the thick greenery are beautiful birds
a
nd flying squirrels. The strange, prehistoric world impresses Grant
and Ellie. Even Nedry and Gennaro take in the vegetal wonder.
Then, the SOUND of men working, grunting from exertion. Ahead, Muldoon
directs A GROUP OF WORKMEN. Flame-throwers roar and machetes fight back
the abundant foliage. As they attack a new area, Regis waves Muldoon
over. Muldoon has a pronounced limp as he walks over to join them.
ED REGIS
This is Robert Muldoon, great African big
game hunter. And he’s working for us now.
Doing a bang-up job, too.
Muldoon rests his rifle by a tree stump and shakes with Grant and Ellie.
MULDOON
Ed’s a little more BS than PR. Mr.
Gennaro, nice to have you back.
Gennaro nods warmly as Muldoon limps back to work.
Regis leads on, taking Gennaro’s arm and talking to him like and old
friend. Nedry lumbers in the middle, alone. At the rear, Grant and
Ellie study everything they see. Grant
calls to Regis but is ignored.
GRANT
Mr. Regis, what is the nature of this park?
Ellie looks behind and sees cramped ferns spring out to capture the path
they just walked on. She nudges Grant, who has seen the same.
ELLIE
Aggressive growth, huh?
GRANT
Hammond’s trademark.
A distinct HOOTING in the distance. Then a loud TRUMPETING. Grant and
Ellie stop. Nedry doesn’t look up. Regis flashes his salesman’s smile.
REGIS
Out animals are greeting you!
They pass a crude sign nailed to a tree: Welcome to Jurassic Park.
Grant cringes at the sign. Ellie nudges him to loosen up.
GRANT
I hope this isn’t one of those animatronic
exhibits in a Jurassic botanical setting.
NEDRY
Nope.
Gennaro wipes his brow. They enter a green tunnel of over-arching palm
that leads to the
VISITOR’S CENTER, a modern complex in the distance.
Ellie notices a large fence hidden in the brush. She nudges Grant.
THEIR POV - CAMERA SLOWLY CLIMBS a fifteen foot high chain-link fence.
The needle-spiked top of this fence cuts deep into the brush.
This fence is only the prelude.
Sprawling massively above and behind it is a thirty foot high fence.
Woven throughout the fence’s mesh is an intricate system of electrical
wire. There is a prominent warning: DANGER! ELECTRIC FENCE: TEN
THOUSAND VOLTS - KEEP OFF!
CAMERA KEEPS CLIMBING to the top: ominous barbed wire, curled into the
highest growth with coiled razors glistening in the sun.
Grant strains to understand. The quickens his steps to catch the others.
They reach a clearing with an unfinished brick sidewalk and potted shade
trees waiting for planting. A crosshatching of tiny lizards scamper off
the walk. An empty swimming pool is being filled by A MAN with a pumper
truck. Next to him, WORKERS water the large ferns.
REGIS
I hope you brought your bathing suits!
Doesn’t this mist and these plants really
create a bonafide prehistoric feeling?
Regis points to a low building with glass pyramids on the roof.
REGIS
There’s the Visitor’s Center.
A CRANE lowers an iron grating on top of one pyramid. An animal TRUMPETS.
INT VISITOR’S CENTER - DAY
CLOSE ON - the iron security grating as it fits over a glass skylight.
Above, MASKED WORKERS weld it on. Sparks fly.
Grant stares up at it, thinking. Footsteps echo behind him as Regis,
Ellie, Gennaro, and Nedry look around the unfinished building.
The Visitor’s Center is two stories high, a lot of glass with exposed
girders and supports. It’s incomplete: vines swing in the breeze where
the back wall will go and undressed cables litter the floor. Even so,
exhibit areas are in varying stages of completion. Behind, SEVERAL
SPANISH WORKERS unpack masonry supplies.
GRANT
Where’s Hammond?
REGIS
Mr. Hammond is dying to see you guys.
Grant strides over to an exhibit as Gennaro paces impatiently.
GENNARO
Hot, hot, hot. Ten billion bucks and the
air conditioning sucks.
Regis smiles apologetically and pushes open a large window on one of the
finished walls. Giant leaves and vines burst inside.
Grant studies an exhibit in progress entitled When Dinosaurs Rules the
World. This is a large clock that presents millions of years as hours
in a single day. Many brightly colored hours are allocated to the
dinosaurs. Man receives the last second of the day. Ellie joins Grant.
ELLIE
The audicity of man to get here at the
last second and think he runs the show.
Grant smiles at her inexhaustible enthusiasm. He looks at a painted
mural of a Raptor on one of the walls in the half-completed gift shop.
Nedry is at a coke machine, feeding in change
. It doesn’t work. He
SLAMS his hand against it, and finally, a cup drops down the chute.
Upside-down. It pours. Coke splashes Nedry. He curses and exits.
THE ROTUNDA - Ellie pulls Grant over to a raised, round display with a
catwalk. In this unfinished display, a skeletal T-Rex and a Raptor are
locked in combat. Scaffolding is up around it, and painting supplies
are scattered all around.
Regis glances at his watch, looks up, and smiles.
At that moment, doors adjacent to the rotunda swing open automatically.
A soothing female voice comes out of the public address system.
VOICE (ON P.A.)
Please come to the theater. In a moment,
our film will begin.
The voice goes on to give this information in a number of languages.
Regis waves everyone into the theater. Nedry doesn’t join them. He
climbs the stairs to the second floor.
INT SCREENING ROOM - DAY
Small and plush. Regis sits in the front, full of enthusiasm. Grant and
Ellie sit further behind.
Gennaro stands in the back and smokes.
CELESTIAL MUSIC fills the room. Mist covers and curls on the stage
floor. Colored spotlights illuminate the mist in an eerie fashion.
overall effect is the touristy Where’s NY? high-gloss production.
years young, with a glint in his eye and very comfortable with his own
effect. He wears a white linen suit with a red rose in the breast
pocket. Like an elder Carl Sagan, he addresses the group.
HAMMOND
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome
to an ancient and mysterious world, a
world long before humankind inhabited it
with all out remarkable dreams and
questions. Enter a world that existed
one hundred million years ago. When our
changing earth was the abode of
magnificent creations.
Today, the late twentieth century has
witnessed a scientific gold rush of
astonishing proportions: the headlong
and furious haste to un
ravel the mystery
of genetic engineering has become more
than just a subject for science fiction
writers.
ON GRANT - he whispers to Ellie.
GRANT
- the furious haste to commercialize
genetic engineering.
BACK ON HAMMOND - he warms to his subject.
HAMMOND
Biotechnology promises the greatest
revolution in human history. It will
outdistance atomic power and computers in
its effects on our everyday lives. We’ll
see square trees for easy lumbering and
white trout for super visibility to
fisherman. Why it will transform every
aspect of human life: out medical care,
our food, our health, even our very
entertainment.
ON GRANT - confirmed in his thinking, he whispers again.
GRANT
Here we go.
BACK ON HAMMOND - he concludes.
HAMMOND
Nothing will ever be the same again.
It’s literally going to change the face
of our planet as we know it.
MUSIC SOARS. Hammond smiles appreciatively, removes his rose. A screen
descends behind him.
HAMMOND
... Jurassic Park. What we do here is
made possible through the miracle of DNA
replication, commonly known as cloning.
To explain what cloning means, I’m going
to need my own clone - John Hammond.
Another Hammond appears, projected on the screen beside the real one.
2ND HAMMOND
Hi, John!
HAMMOND
Hi, John.
IN THE AUDIENCE - Ellie laughs aloud. Grant, shaking his head, smiles.
BACK ON HAMMOND - The original speaks to the clone.
HAMMOND
Okay John, hold out your finger.
2ND HAMMOND
Why?
HAMMOND
I need some of your
genetic material.
2ND HAMMOND
Now just a minute here, John.
HAMMOND
Your genetic material is the same in
every cell of your body. You have a
hundred billion cells. You won’t miss a
couple.
Hammond holds his rose to the screen the pricks his clone’s finger with
a thorn.
2ND HAMMOND
OW!!! That hurt! Hey, what’s -
The clone dissolves into a cascade of blood as WE SEE a magnified view
of the bloodstream. ANIMATION begins which illuminates the parts of the
blood and its actions. Hammond provides voiceover for the visuals.
HAMMOND
John, let’s look into your blood, the
river of life. There’s your white cells,
exquisitely evolved to clean up bodily
wastes. And there’s a mighty nucleus,
the heart and brain of a cell. This
nucleus has an amazing property. It can
sp
lit in half and reproduce itself.
That’s how it grows. And then those two
can do it again. And again. Making copy
after copy of itself.
Back to the two Hammond’s. Joined by a third, then a fourth, and so on
until the screen is crammed with Hammond’s, elbowing each other for room.
NEW HAMMOND’S
Hi, I’m John Hammond. Hey, I’m John
Hammond. No, I am. I am.
HAMMOND
Come on, that’s enough of this! And I
thought to reproduce myself I had to do it
the old-fashioned way.
New mist fades out this show. The lights go up. Regis applauds. Grant
joins in the laughter with Ellie and Gennaro.
Hammond jumps down from the stage and greets Gennaro and Regis.
HAMMOND
That’s all we’ve got so far. A lot of
fun, isn’t it, Mr. Gennaro?
REGIS
You bet!
Hammond greets Grant and Ellie warmly. Then
Hammond baits Grant.
HAMMOND
It’s been a long time, Alan. I know the
preceding was not your sort of enter-
tainment. Popular science -
GRANT
No, I don’t mind popular science. I dislike
the commercialization of science. It breeds
a sloppiness, a disregard for method.
HAMMOND
Well, I don’t disregard method. But think
of mutation - which is nothing more than
sloppy communication on the cellular
level. Think how triumphant mutations
have been in natural selection.
Oh, but I know what you’re saying. It’s
true that I have never been afraid to make
money with science. I’ve always
considered profit to be a measure of
success, a barometer of public reaction.
GRANT
Mr. Hammond, the essential truth of a
scientific law ha
s nothing to do with
public reaction. Water freezes at
thirty-two degrees, whether you pay for
it or not.
Hammond turns to Gennaro. Gennaro smiles nervously at their clash.
HAMMOND
Donald, in bringing my old friend, Alan
Grant, you’ve brought an excellent critic
to observe the viability of my island and
out venture. I look forward to winning
you over, Dr. Grant.
ELLIE
Just what is it you’re trying to clone?
EXT A SPRAWLING LAWN - DAY
Outside, Hammond leads Gennaro, Grant and Ellie. He points out the
staff living quarters, a group of graceful teepees. Next to their
homes, WORKERS hang laundry and cook on grills.
They pass a large Mechanical Building. The generator housed within is
very LOUD. The wind increases, rippling clothes.
Suddenly, the SOUND of a speeding jeep. Grant turns.
Racing across the rolling green landscape is A RED JEEP. Muldoon is
at
the steering wheel. Two kids bounce happily around in the open jeep.
They are TIMMY, 9, and LEX, 6, brother and sister. The jeep stops.
LEX
Grandpa!
Hammond looks up, delighted. Arms open. Gennaro pulls him close.
GENNARO
(incredulous)
Mr. Hammond, this is a serious investiga-
tion of the island, not a weekend
excursion or a social outing. We’re
talking about the safety of this place!
Hammond waves to the children.
HAMMOND
I’m aware of that. But I built this
place for children. You can’t
investigate it without their reactions.
They’re what this place is all about.
Hammond beams to Grant and Ellie and indicates the running kids.
HAMMOND
My grandchildren. Genetics were kind.
They’re more like my ex-wife than me.
Lex jumps right into her Grandpa’s arms. Timmy s
hyly walks up and
embraces him. Hammond shines. Gennaro holds in his fury.
INT HAMMOND’S QUARTERS - DAY
Hammond ushers his guests into his own richly appointed baronial suite.
Ellie looks out a small window at the tee-pees and the contrasting
lifestyle below. She then focuses on the high fence, circling the
perimeter of Hammond’s quarters. Above is a skylight, with metal bars.
Grant whispers to her, indicating the obviously modified window frame.
GRANT
Who makes a windows ... smaller?
Timmy smacks him forehead, points to Grant.
TIMMY
I know you. You wrote my book. Lost
World of The Dinosaurs. It’s awesome.
LEX
Timmy’s got dinosaurs on the brain.
GRANT
Don’t worry - he’ll grow out of it.
ELLIE
Dr. Grant’s embarrassed that his book was
so widely successful. He wrote if for
gra
duate students.
Hammond smiles intensely. But he’s patient. He stands be a huge table
covered with a sumptuous velvet drape.
HAMMOND
Although Dr. Grant suspects otherwise,
this is not an ill-conceived, half-baked,
poorly funded plan that I’ve headed.
This is a plan to which I committed all
of my personal resources, literally
billions of dollars. And Donald Gennaro
here has kindly helped me raise that sum
again from wealthy Japanese. They love
theme parks. I have recruited pre-
eminent scientific minds from hallowed
universities and we’ve taken the time to
do things right.
Lex peeks under the cloth. Hammond smiles at her and recovers the table.
HAMMOND
Jurassic Park is the most advanced
amusement park in the world. We work
with genetics - life’s essential building
blocks - to create new
worlds. I set out
to make biological attractions. Living
attractions. Attractions so astonishing
that they’d capture the imagination of
the entire world.
GRANT
What exactly do you mean ... biological
attractions?
HAMMOND
As you well know, long ago, creatures ten
times larger than whales roamed our
adolescent Earth. And then mass,
mysterious extinction created a time
barrier unscalable until ... now.
BEAT.
GRANT
Yes?
HAMMOND
Dinosaurs.
(superbly proud)
I’ve been cloning dinosaurs!
CAMERA PUSHES IN on Grant’s incredulous face.
Hammond whips off the drape, revealing a complex and detailed scale
model of the entire resort.
HAMMOND
Ladies and Gentlemen, Jurassic Park. Not
a resort, not a scien
tific conservatory,
just a little piece of pre-history that
every child in the whole wide world will
insist on visiting.
Hammond grins with delight.
GENNARO
At least every rich child.
Grant and Ellie come forward to examine the model. The kids crowd in.
CAMERA SNORKELS through the model - revealing different enclosures with
miniature dinosaurs, moats, fences, roads, a river.
HAMMOND
Apatosaurs in the lowland. Gallimimus in
the grassy plain. Dilophosaurus above
the river. The mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex!
238 fabulous creatures so far!
TIMMY
Real dinosaurs, Grandpa? Don’t they want
to just kill each other?
Hammond excitedly punches a button - colored display grids light up.
HAMMOND
Timmy, there’s electric fences and moats
and video surveillance at all times.
There
are monitors every hundred feet
whatever we could plant them on the
island. A computer to tabulate it all.
ELLIE
You created dinosaurs? Who gave you the
right to do that?
HAMMOND
I didn’t create them. I found a way to
wake them up, to stir them out of their
prehistoric slumber.
GRANT
We don’t have the science. There’s no
source of dinosaur DNA.
Hammond’s proud, excited face shifts to one that divulges modestly.
HAMMOND
Yes ... there is.
INT HALLWAY, UPPER FLOOR, VISITOR’S CENTER - DAY
Hammond leads Grant, Ellie, Gennaro, Timmy, and Lex out of an elevator
and down an endless corridor. A WORKMAN ON CRUTCHES passes them.
They go through a series of security doors. To get them open, Hammond
places his palm on a screen before each door. Each time, it lights up
with an x-ray-like image of
his hand and each door HISSES open.
CLOSEUP - Security x-ray. of Hammond’s hand. BEEP. A red line writes
through the screen. Can’t get in. Complaining, under his breath:
HAMMOND
Glitches.
Hammond tries again.
INT CONTROL ROOM - DAY
The door HISSES open, revealing an elaborate technology-crammed room.
In dim light, clusters of computer consoles and video monitors glow.
Nedry sits in a corner at a keyboard with a pile of papers next to him,
typing away. JOHN ARNOLD, 45, park supervisor, sits directing the
activities of the park and chain-smoking. There are large windows
looking out to the park, one of which is cracked and being replaced from
the outside by a TEAM OF WORKMEN.
Hammond wears a big smile as he leads in his entourage. He’s the
ringmaster.
HAMMOND
And this is the right side of my brain.
The entire park is safely controlled from
here. John Arnold, that genius over
there, is the m
aster control operator.
(with genuine concern)
John, don’t smoke so much, you’re far too
valuable a man to me.
ARNOLD
Oh, you’d survive just fine without me.
Arnold exhales smoke and waves good-naturedly. Nedry stares darkly at
Hammond, who ignores him.
HAMMOND
Everything’s controlled from here.
Remote everything. Cars, feeding
programs, medicine dispensers, fecal
clean up - and that can be tons in a park
like this. We run this place with twenty
workers. This computer does it all. And
it polices each and every single animal
out there.
ELLIE
(whispers to Grant)
Who polices the computer?
Hammond points up. Overlooking the control room and the park is a
raised platform with a huge chair, like a throne in a court. A large
video screen faces this chair.
HAMMOND
That’s where I will watch the astonished
watchers. Okay, let’s go.
They practically race as a group to keep up with Hammond. The security
door seals shit, leaving Nedry and Arnold alone again.
NEDRY
Thanks for the kind word, Mr. Hammond.
ARNOLD
Come on, Dennis, he knows your technical
contributions have made it all possible.
NEDRY
Right.
BACK ON HALLWAY -
Hammond and his group turn off the corridor and reach a door marked:
CAUTION: Teratogenic Substances. Timmy backs off, grabs Lex’s arm.
TIMMY
That stuff turns you into a mutant!
He contorts his face into strange shapes. As Hammond leads them all in
Lex pulls on his pocket.
HAMMOND
Don’t mind the signs. They’re only legal
precautions.
Gennaro frowns. The door opens and Lex peeks in.
HAMMOND
My laboratory, Lex. It will be yours and
Timmy’s someday.
INT AMBER ROOM, LABORATORY - CONTINUING ACTION
Grant and Ellie share a baffled look. Grant stares.
Grant’s POV - PAN ACROSS a room filled with honey-colored glowing stones
arranged on glass shelves in large pull-out trays. Each stone is tagged
and numbered.
Grant leans down, studying the stones. He bumps right into Gennaro.
Lex jumps excitedly.
LEX
It’s ... gold!
TIMMY
It’s amber. Fossilized tree sap.
LEX
Grandpa found gold.
Grant shushes the kids and looks to Hammond.
HAMMOND
You’re both right. Amber is our gold.
The alpha or our alchemic alphabet. The
precious course of our genetic material.
You already know amber is the fossilized
resin of prehistoric tree sap, of course.
Grant and Ellie nod impatiently.
Hammond sets the scene.
HAMMOND
Imagine - millions of years ago, tree sap
flowing over insects, as it does now as I
speak, in thousands of forests and backyard
trees everywhere. Imagine that ancient sap
trapping a little struggling insect and
consuming it in a syrupy death. Millions
and millions of years pass and we come
along and discover this prehistoric insect.
If we’re lucky, he’s perfectly preserved in
a fossil form inside the hardened sap which
is now amber. And as we examine more and
more amber, we find many perished insects,
including among them, biting insects -
GRANT
Like mosquitos -
HAMMOND
Like mosquitos, precisely, Dr. Grant.
GRANT
Mosquitos that sucked the blood of
dinosaurs. That’s your source of DNA
material? My God! It just might work.
INT EXTRACTION ROOM, LABORATORY
A TECHNICIAN carefully positions a piece of amber under a fine-pointed
drill. With a nod, the technician’s goggles drop from his forehead onto
his eyes and he starts up the drill. Hammond yells over the loud WHIRR.
HAMMOND
The extraction room speaks for itself.
CLOSE ON - drillbit boring into the amber. Orange fleck fly.
GRANT
It does?
The technician shuts the drill. Placing his hands into a mounted pair
of gloves, he operates an automated pair of needle-nose pliers to
carefully lift out the remains of a mosquito. He drops this bug on a
slide and places this slide on a tray full of such slides.
LEX
That’s a million year old mosquito?
A conveyor belt starts, carrying this tray on to the NEXT TECHNICIAN.
The group follows. This technician puts the first slide under a
microscope. Grant watches on a video monito
r as the tech inserts a long
needle into the prehistoric bug.
ELLIE
Put in a piece of amber, find a mosquito,
drill it out. Right?
HAMMOND
Right. You are witnessing the extraction
of tissue from the thorax of this humble
insect. If this mosquito has ingested any
foreign red blood cells - say it bit a
hadrosaur or a stegosaurus or a T-Rex - we
will extract those blood cells and obtain
paleo-DNA, the how-to-build instruction
book of an extinct creature.
So you see, Ellie, I’m not creating dino-
saurs. Fossils left behind the information,
the map of how to bring them back. I’m
helping them escape from the confined of
time.
GRANT
But even thousands of mosquitos wouldn’t
give you enough tissue to determine a
complete DNA strand.
HAMMOND
Right you are, Dr. Grant! More like
hundreds of thousands of mosquitos are
necessary to provide even a partial
strand of DNA. And without a complete
strand, we don’t have a dinosaur.
INT GENETICS ROOM
A LOUD HUMMING SOUND. Along the walls are rows of waist-high stainless
steel boxes. In the room’s center are two six-foot-high round towers.
At a single console, a man studies a monitor.
DR. WU, 35, looks up from his study and beams at his guests. He jumps
up and knocks over his cup of coffee. ASSISTANTS clean the area as Wu
comes forward and actually hugs Grant, much to Grant’s embarrassment.
HAMMOND
Ah, I knew you two would hit it off! Dr.
Grant, this is Dr. Wu, my chief geneticist.
WU
Finally, you are here! I’ve been working
without the encouragement of my peers for
too long. Welcome, welcome!
He kisses Ellie, who takes
it in stride. Gennaro, We already knows.
WU
Mr. Hammond never lets me publish and
he’s interested only in results, not in
science.
HAMMOND
Don’t forget to thank me when you pick up
your Nobel prize.
Hammond and Wu resume the tour.
HAMMOND
You are standing in the middle of the
most powerful genetics factory created
since the expulsion from Eden.
WU
These are Hamachi-Hood automated gene
sequencers, those are Cray XMP’s,
supercomputers that take DNA information
and organize it. In this room, we take
fragmented or incomplete DNA strands and
compare them to other incomplete strands.
HAMMOND
It’s like finding the missing pieces of a
jigsaw puzzle.
WU
The computers make sever
al trillion
calculations to provide us with a
complete DNA strand - the genetic code of
an extinct animal.
INT INCUBATION ROOM, LABORATORY
A vast room bathed in infrared light, filled with long tables. The
first tables have rows and rows of centrifuges, each bearing dozens of
test tubes. Wu leads the group.
GRANT
Okay, you have your "complete" DNA
strand. How do you grow it?
WU
We use unfertilized crocodile ova as our
breeding medium.
HAMMOND
Our primordial soup.
GRANT
And how do you know what it is you’re
growing?
Wu shrugs.
WU
Well, we have computer techniques to try
and map out finds on an evolutionary
basis. But mostly, we just grow it and
find out what it is. If it’s something
we’re interested in, and it
survives, we
keep it.
Grant and Ellie share a concerned look.
GENNARO
And if you’re not interested?
Wu indicates a cabinet of chemicals with skull-and-crossbone warnings.
Timmy regards the poison with excitement.
Lex calls from deeper in the room.
LEX
Come look!
Here, plastic eggs lay on the long tables, their pale outlines obscured
by a grey mist that covers the tables. The eggs are all gently rocking
as TECHNICIANS roam up and down the aisles.
Hammond walks ahead of the group. As Wu speaks, Hammond listens and
enjoys it as though he’s hearing it for the first time.
WU
This is the incubation room. We keep the
temperature at ninetynine degrees and a
relative humidity of one hundred percent.
GRANT AND TIMMY
Jurassic atmosphere.
Timmy smiles at Grant. Hammond winks at Timmy.
WU
We
also run a high oxygen concentration,
up to thirty-three percent, so if you
feel faint, please tell me right away.
Lex feigns a faint, Timmy cracks a small smile. They move forward,
waist-deep in the mist. A strange green light emanates from the
incubators. Lex is half-consumed by the mist. She mimics the witch.
LEX
I’m ... melting!
Ellie laughs and pulls Lex close.
WU
Reptile eggs contain large amounts of
yolk but no water at all. The embryos
must extract water from the surrounding
environment.
GRANT
That’s why you create the mist.
Wu nods. Hammond just enjoys the scene as Grant and Ellie watch a
thermal sensor moving from one egg to the next, touching each with a
flexible wand, beeping. Lex and Timmy let their hands glide over the
sides of the green glowing incubators fully awed by the strange, big
eggs they hold.
WU
Children, please do not touch! The eggs
are permeable to skin oils.
Grant that very close to an egg. He sniffs it.
GRANT
What kind of eggs are these? Are these
shells plastic?
WU
Yes, they are, The embryos are
mechanically inserted and then hatched in
this room. But we’ve managed to
sufficiently mimic the actual biological
process - these creatures rupture the
plastic membrane that they’re contained
in when they’re born. Like real births.
They reach an endless row of incubators, lined up along the wall,
beneath a viewing area like those found in an OB-GYN ward.
WU
Eggs that are determined viable spend
their last couple days in our specially-
designed incubators, which help
accelerate the