A veteran director responsible for some of the highest-grossing films of all time missed out on directing Jurassic Park by “just a few hours”.
While the seasoned Hollywood filmmaker may have lost out on the chance to make the film, which was ultimately directed by Steven Spielberg, the director in question is glad he didn’t take on the project.
James Cameron, the director behind the Avatar franchise and classics like Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, confirmed he had been in the running for Jurassic Park.
The Michael Crichton-penned classic had been up for grabs and it was snapped up by Spielberg and his team just hours before Cameron pitched his idea.
In hindsight, even Cameron believes Spielberg did a much better job than he could have ever afforded the film, which became a decades-spanning movie franchise.
A post to the r/TodayILearned Reddit page had fans discuss what a Cameron-directed version of Jurassic Park would look like.
One person wrote: “Steven Spielberg beat James Cameron to the film rights of Jurassic Park by just a few hours.
“However after Cameron saw Spielberg’s film, he realized that Spielberg was the right person for it because dinosaurs are for kids and he would’ve made ‘Aliens with dinosaurs.'”
Fans believe Spielberg was the right man for the job, crediting the veteran moviemaker with the “awe factor” he featured in the film.
One viewer wrote: “A huge part of why Jurassic Park worked was the awe factor, including the rewriting of Hammond as a self-insert.
“An illusionist who wanted to connect his art to childhood imagination. There are monsters in the film, but just as much time is spent on the magical benign creatures.”
Another agreed, adding: “That balance is what made Jurassic Park work so well. And it made the best use of those revolutionary special effects. Cameron’s idea of Jurassic Park probably would’ve been closer to the books but I think it wouldn’t have been as good of a movie.”
Others believe Cameron would have been more faithful to the tone of the book, suggesting the Titanic director would have had a better grasp at the darker spots of the Crichton classic.
One person wrote: “I saw the film and loved it, then read the book and loved it too, but I wonder if it would’ve gone differently had I reversed the order. Guessing probably not, since I was just a kid who loved dinos.”
Another suggested that if Hollywood producers ever wanted a remake of Jurassic Park, then Cameron was their man. One person shared: “If Hollywood ever commits the cardinal sin of remaking the original Jurassic Park, it better damn well be in the ballpark of what James Cameron had in mind.”
Another added: “The original Spielberg movie is a masterpiece, but I’d be kind of curious to see someone make another adaptation that leans more into the gore and darker horror elements from the Crichton novel.
“Even if it were bad, it couldn’t be any worse than all of the crappy sequels we already have.”