‘Jurassic Park’ Came Close to Cutting Ian Malcolm Completely

Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm has appeared in more Jurassic Park films than any other character, though the actor admitted that his character was almost completely cut from the original film.

“When I first met Steven Spielberg at Amblin, he came in and said, ‘You know, there’s a movement afoot, a new rewrite is happening, and your character, Ian Malcolm, is being written out,’” Goldblum shared on a special feature of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom‘s home video release. “‘We probably wanna give these funny lines and kinda incorporate your character into the Sam Neill character.’”

Thanks to Goldblum’s performance, Malcolm has become one of the standout elements of the entire franchise, making it seem absurd that there was ever an idea to cut him out of the film. However, with the character often interjecting cynicism into the concept of the park, it’s easy to see how his attitudes and specific bits of dialogue could have been combined with Neill’s Alan Grant to streamline the narrative.

Spielberg made the correct decision to keep Malcolm in the film, who also went on to appear in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Fallen Kingdom. Jurassic World 3 won’t be debuting until 2021, but Goldblum has already expressed his interest in being involved in the next film if the filmmakers found a place for him.

“Who knows? I’m curious about it. If nothing else happened, I’d be entirely satisfied and nourished and lucky and thrilled to have done all of this,” Goldblum shared with Collider of his involvement with future films. “If I can be of any service, that’s my posture and authentic feeling. I’ve kind of nosed around, ’cause I’ve had such a great time, and [Jurassic World 3 director Colin Trevorrow’s] so good. We did that Jeep commercial, he directed that. He’s awful good. I’d like to work with him more on anything. I can imagine, but it’s up to them. Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael, who I think is writing the script with him.”

What makes audiences hopeful that Goldblum could return for a third film was his appearance in the latest film being extremely brief, a decision that co-writer Trevorrow grappled with.

“We never did. It always felt really cheap to me. It always felt fake,” Trevorrow shared with Empire when asked if there was a possibility of Malcolm playing a larger role in earlier drafts of Fallen Kingdom. “It felt like a construct of screenwriters trying to figure out how to fit in a character they love. I have so much respect for those characters I just wouldn’t want them doing anything I don’t think they’d naturally do.”

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom lands on Blu-ray and DVD on September 18th. Jurassic World 3 is slated to hit theaters on June 11, 2021.

Can you imagine a Jurassic Park without Ian Malcolm? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T GameSpot]