The release date for Jurassic World Rebirth is just over the horizon and fans of 1993’s Jurassic Park have much to be excited for. As producer Frank Marshall told Vanity Fair in an exclusive early look at the film, he, writer David Koepp, and executive producer Steven Spielberg did all they could to make the franchise frightening again. Jurassic World Rebirth follows a team of covert operations experts tasked with procuring the DNA from the three biggest remaining dinosaurs on a heretofore unseen island that served as the original research facility for the very first attempt at making a dino theme park.
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Rebirth serves as a soft reboot of the franchise, taking place five years after the conclusion of the Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard-led Jurassic World trilogy but featuring an entirely new cast of characters. Outside of some of these new characters being assuredly ill-fated, what do we know about them?
Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson)
Scarlett Johansson has long wanted to be a part of the Jurassic Park franchise. She grew up with the 1993 original and was such a big fan that she “slept in a Jurassic Park pup tent in my bedroom I shared with my sister for a year. Anytime the trades would report a new Jurassic movie, I would forward to my agents like ‘Hey, I’m available.’”
Marshall described Bennett as “a special operative. She was in the armed forces for the entirety of her career. She probably worked for a private contractor for some time, and now she’s working for herself.” Johansson had quite a bit of input on the shaping of Bennett as well, saying “I just wanted to understand what the stakes were for her, and that she wasn’t just driven by money or power. You wanted it to feel personal for her. You have to love the characters and you want to root for them. The movie can’t just stand on the dinosaurs alone.” She makes a good point. Typically, mercenary characters are nothing more than cannon fodder in creature features. Johansson promises Bennett is more than that, “She’s someone who’s dedicated herself to saving other people, and I think she’s at a professional crossroads. I think she’s burnt out.”
Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey)
While there won’t be any legacy characters popping up in Rebirth, Jonathan Bailey, who plays paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis, hinted that his character has a history with Sam Neill’s Dr. Alan Grant. Bailey felt pressure to make his character work, saying, “I’ve always wanted to make Dr. Alan Grant proud. You’ll have to wait and see to see what sort of link there is between them.”
Bailey went on about Dr. Loomis, adding he “reinforces big, cerebral, and emotional arguments about the natural world and how we as humans live our lives.” But, as the teaser trailer makes clear, he’s the least fortified to survive on a dangerous, mutated dinosaur-laden island. But his presence is a necessary one, as he’s best suited to procure the dino DNA.
[RELATED: Here’s How to Watch the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World Films in Order]
Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali)
Rebirth is going to carry over what has worked best about many of Steven Spielberg’s best classic adventures, from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Jaws. When it comes to that latter point, Jonathan Bailey has equated his character to Richard Dreyfuss’ Hooper, Johansson’s character to Roy Scheider’s Martin Brody, and Mahershali Ali’s Duncan Kincaid to Robert Shaw’s shark hunter turned shark chum Quint.
Ali appreciated the comparison, but didn’t see it that way during the shoot. His description of Bennett’s team leader? “Kincaid is a guy who at this point in his life has chosen to live off the grid. He’s in Suriname [a country in northern South America], but he’s somebody who has been a good friend of Zora’s and is always willing to help out when she needs something handled covertly. He’s a good-spirited guy, but he’s definitely been through some tragedy in his life. All in all, he’s learned to live with his wounds, and he’s making the best of the life that he has.”
Jurassic World Rebirth hits theaters on July 2nd.
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