‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ Star Defends Chris Pratt’s ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Controversy

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star Bryce Dallas Howard stands by her co-star Chris Pratt and his Star-Lord’s character’s decision to punch Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.

First and foremost, Howard is quick to point out that Thanos is responsible for half of the Marvel Cinematic Universe being wiped away from existence. Of course, the debate lays in whether or not the Mad Titan would have achieved his goal had Pratt’s Peter Quill not punched him when Iron Man and Spider-Man were close to taking the Infinity Gauntlet from his hand.

“Was he the cause of it?” Howard said in the interview with ComicBook.com featured in the video above. “Wasn’t it Thanos? Wasn’t it Thanos who did it?”

Still, she stands by Star-Lord’s emotional decision to throw a haymaker at Thanos, even if it did come at an inopportune time.

“Of course,” she has seen the movie, so Howard understands. “Well, here’s what I thought: I thought that it was a good story, well told,” the actress said. “He’s the most human character. He’s half human and that spoke to his humanity in that moment. I think it is important that everyone realize that it was Thanos who did it. It was Thanos!”

She does laugh, one performer to another, about the move never having been Pratt’s decision in the first place, of course. “Maybe if you didn’t listen to the pages you were given that morning…!”

As for her script in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, some secrets of the new Jurassic trilogy’s overarching story are kept from Howard but she remains in the know and engaged with the creative process at every opportunity.

“You always have a script,” Howard said. “Everyone who is involved with this movie behind-the-scenes is very curious and engaged with myself and with Chris so we definitely get to be a part of that process. We get to make requests like, ‘Laura Dern, please!’

When Jurassic World was coming to fruition, an overall scheme for a three-part story was already in mind, going back to the mastermind of the entire franchise. “When we started with the first movie, Colin [Trevorrow] who directed the first film, had spoken a lot to Stephen Spielberg about where the story could go over basically three chapters,” Howard said. “We began a little bit with the end in mind. So, we do have a sense of where the story is going, overall.”

As for the third installment of the Jurassic World franchise which is expected to hit theaters in June of 2021, there is plenty of excitement ahead for Claire and Owen as Fallen Kingdom set the franchise up for some massive expansion. “It’s incredible,” Howard said. “I think, where this story is ultimately going, is a continuation of the threat of not only these animals getting out there but the technology falling into the wrong hands. Now, that is going to be very easy. There are these animals running around on the planet unsupervised and it’s gonna be crazy!”

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is available on digital downloads now and on blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, September 17, 2018.