I’ve been thinking about James Cameron’s recent admission that he almost directed “Jurassic Park” before Steven Spielberg swooped in to steal the rights. Honestly? I kind of wish he did, or at least made a sequel.
In an Empire Magazine interview, Cameron admits, “[Spielberg] was the right guy to make it. Not me, because I would have made it too terrifying and R-rated. It would have been “Aliens” with dinosaurs.”
I’m not the biggest “Jurassic Park” fan. Don’t get me wrong, good film, but it’s not necessarily a film I care to revisit. While Spielberg did hit the bullseye with his PG-13 ‘Jurassic,’ I’d much rather an R-rated dinosaur movie —that’s something we haven’t really gotten with this franchise, as all of the instalments were neutered for mass ticket consumption.
Cameron, the man behind “Aliens,” “Titanic,” and “Terminator,” revealed Spielberg only beat him by hours when he snatched up the rights in the ‘90s. He told the Titanic Museum crowd in Belfast:
I tried to buy the book rights and he beat me to it by a few hours. But when I saw the film, I realized I was not the right person to make the film. He was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been Aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn’t have been fair.
Technically, he’s right about Spielberg’s approach. 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. Spielberg’s sensibility was right for that film.
My main issue with this franchise is that it’s been 32 years since “Jurassic Park” came out, and it’s still the only truly worthy film in the series. Yes, “The Lost World” didn’t seem great when it came out, but compared to the nonsense we’ve been getting since then, its stock has quietly risen. Despite the PG-13 rating, ‘Lost World’ remains the darkest film in the franchise, with Spielberg occasionally leaning into outright horror. It’s the least “family-friendly” entry — characters are eaten on camera, torn apart, stalked, hunted, snapped like twigs.
However, just picture Cameron’s “Jurassic Park”: R-rated chaos, probably a few less wholesome moments, more relentless terror. Sounds incredible. I would have loved a darker take, but Spielberg and Universal made the smarter business choice. They made a dinosaur movie for kids that still thrills adults. Sometimes restraint is still the real genius.