James Cameron Nearly Directed JURASSIC PARK

James Cameron Nearly Directed JURASSIC PARK

Director James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic) reveals that he nearly directed the film adaptation of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, saying that his take on the story would've been "nastier" than Steven Spielberg's classic.

News
By PaulRom - Sep 13, 2012 12:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Jurassic Park
Source: The Huffington Post


Speaking with The Huffington Post, Avatar director James Cameron revealed that he really wanted to adapt Michael Crichton's highly successful science fiction novel Jurassic Park, which began a franchise consisting of movies, comics, video games, and even the sequel novel The Lost World. He said that he was very close to buying the book's film rights, before being beat out by Steven Spielberg. Cameron said that Spielberg beat him to the film rights "By a few hours".

The director goes on to praise Spielberg's vision of the story, while also commending him for going for a more kid-friendly route compared to Cameron's "nastier" take. "But when I saw the film, I realised that I was not the right person to make the film, he [Spielberg] was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been Aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn't have been fair.

"Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film. I'd have gone further, nastier, much nastier."

As interested as I would be in seeing Cameron's take, I'm glad that Steven Spielberg ended up helming Jurassic Park (which is one of my favorite movies of all time). You can see the original back on the big screen - this time in 3D - on April 5th, 2013.







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DrHorrible
DrHorrible - 9/13/2012, 12:47 PM
Sure. I bet it would've been as nasty as blue alien sex.





;)
superbatspiderman
superbatspiderman - 9/13/2012, 1:09 PM
Well it's not like Cameron would have made it better because Jurassic Park is a special effects masterpiece. It is gonna be 20 years old next year and it still has better special effects than most movies today.

I like Spielberg way more than I do Cameron anyway. Cameron might have made the Terminator but Spielberg has such a bigger filmography than him.
LoudNoises
LoudNoises - 9/13/2012, 1:13 PM
I don't get why people hate Cameron. He is a good director, I don't know how this is even disputable.
marvel72
marvel72 - 9/13/2012, 1:17 PM
definetly a good director i like his older films more then his newer ones.

i just don't like his ego.
SonOfStarKiller
SonOfStarKiller - 9/13/2012, 1:25 PM
Man, you can't even mention Cameron's name around here without people getting their panties in a bunch. Hack? Ego maniac? Believe what you want but someone who can generate close to 5 billion dollars with just two movies says a lot about the man and his talents.
marvel72
marvel72 - 9/13/2012, 1:33 PM
^ my last post should read than not then. :P
GoILL
GoILL - 9/13/2012, 1:39 PM
@Nomis

I totally agree with that statement.
lokibane2012
lokibane2012 - 9/13/2012, 1:55 PM
James Cameron is fine. The stories of his recent films suck but the actual directorial work is top-notch.

And he didn't put a gun to anybody's head to go watch his films. It's us, the audience, that watched his films to 2 billion dollar grosses.

But yeah, he is kind of a smug asshole. Even here, he gives a bit of a back-handed complement to Spielberg.
"Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds"

Yeesh, is it that hard to say that "Spielberg made a film that anybody could enjoy".
SonOfStarKiller
SonOfStarKiller - 9/13/2012, 1:55 PM
@Darkmetal- I don't have a problem with people not liking a directors work, regardless of how much money it makes. I know people personally who hate Avatar, although they haven't even seen it. What bothers me is the sudden hatred for the man. Cameron's a director who is able to play by his own rules and not let studio execs dictate what he does. That's EXACTLY how we would want it if we were film makers. And God forbid if the man forms an opinion or speaks openly and truthfully about other films. We all have opinions. We come to this site to voice them. The difference is these opinions come from a man that has made a ton of money. Money that allows his to do whatever he wants, and when he wants to do them. But for reason he gets the word EGO thrown at him. I'm sure if he decided to do another Terminator movie, most people here would be back on the bandwagon again.
UrbanKnight
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 1:57 PM
@ Nomis sadly I agree as well.

Cameron is making Whedon and Spielberg feel like they made kiddie movies and they still can't see him!

Ok now he wants beef! Lol.

J/k guys. I love and appreciate all these filmmakers, even the newbie.
I just don't like all this backlash and undeserved hate.

Cameron impresses me in particular because he started late in the game.

Spielberg started like in the womb n shit! Lol.
LoudNoises
LoudNoises - 9/13/2012, 2:07 PM
@lokibane2012

That wasn't a back-handed remark and it's reasons like this where people read a statement and interpret it completely wrong that gives other people the impression that a director is an ego maniac when in fact it couldn't be further from the truth. He isn't saying that speilberg made a movie that is for 8 year olds. He is saying that seilberg recognized something he did not about the novel. That even an 8 year old should be able to enjoy a movie about dinosaurs coming to life where as he would have made a movie that was catered to adults only. It's a compliment. It's humble even. He basically said that speilberg was the right man for that job.
Vapes
Vapes - 9/13/2012, 2:16 PM
See, now I wanna see Cameron's version. Le sigh.
jessepostal
jessepostal - 9/13/2012, 2:22 PM
Spielberg had so much magic back than, or maybe it was just cuz i was a kid growing up with his movies but jp will always be one of my favs along with jaws. Timless classics
AutobotCommander84
AutobotCommander84 - 9/13/2012, 2:25 PM
I can't believe how James Cameron became a billionaire. He wasn't raised in a wealthy family like J.J. Abrams, dropped out of community college, and became a truck driver. Then he saw Star Wars and decided that he wanted to be a film director. Now he's probably one of the gods of film.
UrbanKnight
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 2:38 PM
@Bonus

"LOL! he came out his mom and yelled...CUT! ;)"

HA HA! The doctor was an actor and his dad was A.D.! lol.
SeaSerpentine
SeaSerpentine - 9/13/2012, 2:41 PM
"'Aliens' with dinosaurs", so in other words, "Carnosaur 2".

But seriously, his take on the film would have been interesting. I wonder if he would have Ian Malcom use a power loader, like this unreleased toy.
UrbanKnight
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 2:44 PM
I meant.. @Nomis

Sorry dude. Lol.
UrbanKnight
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 2:48 PM
@AutobotCommander84

Exactly. Kinda inspirational, makes you wanna go for it!

I woulda loved to have seen his JP.
TheFox
TheFox - 9/13/2012, 2:50 PM
Jeez, we've been getting a lot of these "James Cameron talks about something random" articles. Maybe the next one should be titled "James Cameron Just Will Not Shut Up."

Z
Supes17
Supes17 - 9/13/2012, 3:00 PM
Most of the hatred for him is because of his massive ego. He is the Donald Trump of Hollywood directors..

I can't see Jurassic Park any other way.
Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park is a classic.
The fact that it made $914,691,118 back in 1993 amazes me. I still love it
UrbanKnight
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 3:18 PM
@Nomas Ah! I see what you did there. ; D

Oops! Damn Spanish spellchecker. Lol. jk

@ Supes17 So he's not modest about his accomplishments? That don't make him a bad person.
Yes JurassicPark was awesome and huge by 94 but Titanic did 1.8 billion by 98!
angus666
angus666 - 9/13/2012, 3:29 PM
Meh. Jurassic Park is too good to care.
ChanchoMcGrady
ChanchoMcGrady - 9/13/2012, 3:35 PM
Cameron is a good (albeit overrated)director, but I like Spielberg better.
Sparrowsabre7
Sparrowsabre7 - 9/13/2012, 3:39 PM
I really like the movie, but sounds like Cameron's would have been closer to the book, which is pretty much Aliens with dinosaurs. The book is excessively violent and I love it even more than the movie (a looooooooooooooooot of science/techno babble though, to the point where it's almost fetishistic)
EarOne
EarOne - 9/13/2012, 4:12 PM
Aliens with dinos...hmmm...sounds enticing. i mean, i don't mind spielberg, but i was expecting the JAWS' spielberg, cuz crichton's novel is pretty intense.
BackwardGalaxy
BackwardGalaxy - 9/13/2012, 4:28 PM
I like Cameron.
Bane2099
Bane2099 - 9/13/2012, 5:51 PM
Jurassic Park was the very first novel I read cover to cover when I was younger and I loved it... though the film took liberty of changing and excluding some stuff from the book it still came out such a classic movie :]
IIIAdamantiumIII
IIIAdamantiumIII - 9/13/2012, 5:52 PM
omg his Jp would have been the tits
UrbanKnight
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 5:57 PM
@tea I've seen Spielberg show his egotism once in a while too, throughout the years.
Back in 02, right after Spider-Man broke records, he was quoted saying something like...

"Oh I had a chance to direct Spider-Man. My kids where begging me to do it and Harry Potter! But I explained to them, this is daddys personal time now. I have to do what is rewarding and satisfying for me now".

...Or something like that.

Nearly every director shows that side in one way or another (from Nolan to Whedon), human nature, i guess.

Cameron stands out more, while others are more passive aggressive about it.

They act like a buncha rappers. Lol.

I agree tho. He can be a dick and a half. Lol.

Speaking of... How's it hangin buddy?? :p

Welcome back! :)
lokibane2012
lokibane2012 - 9/13/2012, 6:17 PM
@LoudNoises

I know it was a compliment. It was just backhanded. And James Cameron isn't some naive, innocent, little boy. He is a grown ass, intelligent man who has made the two highest grossing films of all time, and dealt with all kinds of behind the scene politics. You don't get where he is without being a shrewd SOB.

Which is why it is a fact that he knows exactly what he is saying, and understands exactly what it would mean. The "8 year old" part was a calculated backhanded compliment.

Now, if you want to believe that he's a poor, misunderstood little lad, then do that. It was just a minor observation I made and I don't want to turn this into some kind of flame war.
Optimus83
Optimus83 - 9/13/2012, 8:41 PM
¡¡¡JURASSIC PARK VS. TERMINATOR!!!. ...¡¡¡GOOD!!!
CCR
CCR - 9/13/2012, 9:15 PM
It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of the man himself, no one here knows him anyway. The point is he's lost his touch with making great movies, he's more into the style over the substance, and NOBODY can counter that fact. In the last 15 years we've gotten Titanic and Avatar from him. Shallow b.s. eaten up by the easily-amused. THAT'S why they made the money. Now The Avengers and TDKR on the other hand, made bookoo bucks because INTELLIGENT people ALSO loved them. Big difference in my book. But if you love 3-D you just couldn't understand, and I feel sorry for you, lol. Amen.
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