Dinosaurs debuted on Wednesday (Jurassic World) this summer, “Rebirth of Jurassic World” and are appearing in cinemas. The series, which began in Jurassic Park over 30 years ago, is one of the only major live-action blockbuster franchises to promote dinosaurs to the big screen. So, what about being a paleontologist who advises Hollywood about these Mesozoic creatures?
Steve Brusatte, a vertebrate paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, is the scientific advisor for the latest “Jurassic World” film starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailly. Live Science emailed several questions to get to the meat in question. His favorite scene from “Rebirth of Jurassic World,” what is the inaccuracy of the “Jurassic Park” film, and most importantly, which one would prefer if the dinosaurs attack?
Hannah Osborne: How different does the first film know about dinosaurs today?
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Steve Brusatte: The first Jurassic Park appeared in 1993 and has learned a huge amount of dinosaurs for over 30 years. Since then, there have been more than 1,000 new dinosaur species being discovered. CT scans and molecular sampling of fossils have revolutionized an understanding of how dinosaurs have grown, migrated, reproduced, hunted and socialized. And we know that many dinosaurs now had wings. But even so, even with all of that, the image of the dinosaurs in the original film is not far from what we know today. These dinosaurs still feel realistic in their posture and behavior. They still look good on the screen. Movies are aging!
But of course, new scientific discoveries can be incorporated into new films.
HO: If you could go back in time to study one period of the Mesozoic Era in person, which would it be?
SB: T. Rex has always been my favorite dinosaur and lived at the end of the dinosaur era, at the moment of closure of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago, but my choice will be a completely different period. Time between about 252 [million] And two million years ago, it was reserved by two of the worst mass extinctions in Earth’s history, each of which was caused by an apocalyptic volcanic eruption.
This was the time of Super Continent Pangaea, where all the lands of the world were gathered. And on this supercontinent, the first dinosaurs took their first steps. These pioneering dinosaurs are T. It didn’t look like Rex or Brontosaurus. They were simply the size of cats and dogs. But they lived a smart, fast-running lifestyle. How glorious it will be to see them – the ancestors of the dinosaur dynasty will come.
HO: What is the biggest inaccuracy from past Jurassic Park movies that want to straighten the records?
SB: Must be feathers. The original Jurassic Park went wild with all sorts of green wandering dinosaurs that looked like overgrown lizards and crocodiles. That coincided with what I knew about dinosaurs in 1993. But three years later, in China, the farmers whose fields work, stumbled upon the gorgeous dinosaur skeleton embedded in the rocks. Petrified feathers surround the bones. This was the first of many discoveries of similar dinosaurs that were rapidly buried by the eruption of a feathery fluff-covered volcano.
We now know that many dinosaurs are vague, and some even had wings in their arms, like real velociraptors. In another history, these first feathered dinosaurs would have been discovered several years ago, and Steven Spielberg could have placed their feathers in his velociraptor.
Related: Jurassic Park movies ranked and are from worst to best
HO: How does the Science Advisor process work? The studio comes up with an idea, then you say yes/no, or the other way around? At what point will you participate?
SB: My job is advice. Whenever a director, or an artist or writer, asks questions about dinosaurs, I always call. I consider myself a science advocate, and my mission is to make sure that the science behind dinosaurs is always there. Most of my work happens early when the script is ironed and the design of the dinosaur character is being developed. It requires lots of Zoom chat, phone and email. Lots of stories, really.
I give feedback on ideas, whether it’s a plot line or more generally a dinosaur design. It’s not my job to approve or reject something, it’s just my opinion. And I know that when a film is in shape, opinions get heavy on many other things.
HO: How do you balance the balance between entertainment and scientific accuracy?
SB: Ultimately, these films are a huge hit in Summer Hollywood monster movies. They are not natural documentaries. They are meant to entertain. And most of all, I am impressed and grateful that there has always been a paleontology advisor for all seven films in the Jurassic Park and the Jurassic World Series. They don’t need to do this. I don’t think most sci-fi films in the universe have astrophysics consultants. However, the Jurassic franchise has always valued real dinosaurs.
Of course, scientific accuracy is just one factor that makes dinosaur characters memorable on-screen. Characters need to be recognizable, have to have personality, carry storylines, and have to be dramatic. Just as famous human biographies exaggerate their traits and personalities due to their dramatic effects, Jurassic dinosaurs may not be accurately adhered to scientific accuracy. And I’m fine with that. After all, we’re talking about extinct species that we lived in millions of years ago. No one has ever seen these dinosaurs alive. We don’t know how they looked and acted. So, when it comes to imagining them, you always need an artistic license.
HO: How do you become a scientific advisor for such a big film?
SB: With incredible strokes of luck and good fortune. There is no application process. Instead, the timing worked. Jack Horner, a well-known paleontologist, served as a consultant for the first five films, but later retired. Colin Treberow, the director of two Jurassic World films, was beginning to develop Dominion in 2018, when he was reading a book I recently wrote (Dinosaurs and Falls). He reached out and I clearly thought his email was a joke – tricks played by one of my colleagues and students. But we connected, turned out to be Colin in fact, then we met in Edinburgh where I live and had a great chat. And as Colin handed the reins to Gareth Edwards to oversee the latest installments, I was excited to return to rebirth.
HO: To supply new villains, the Jurassic World franchise, T. We continue to invent new dinosaurs that are even scary than Rex. Do you think there are real dinosaurs that are scarier than T. rex?
Short answer, no. I think T. Rex was the ultimate dinosaur. It was a bus-sized monster, with a bathtub-sized head and over 50 railway spiked teeth that could crush the bones of prey. And it was clever, with a big brain for dinosaurs, a keen sense of smell and hearing and vision. There’s nothing worse than that.
SB: What is your favorite dinosaur in the new movie? What is the reason?
I love Titanosaurus, a giant long-necked sauropod. They are simply wonderful – in the literal sense of the word. A giant creature heavier than a jet plane, with a neck reaching several stories in the sky. And the way they are portrayed in the film, the way Gareth celebrates their huge size and scale, it’s just seductive. My favorite scene in the film is when the paleontologist, played by Jonathan Bailey, first encounters these dinosaurs and gets emotionally lost. That’s beautiful. This is how I imagine that when I see a huge dinosaur in reality, I will react.
HO: If you have to eat or kill a dinosaur, which would you do?
SB: T. I think Rex is because you die soon. They were crushed and swallowed by their jaws.
Editor’s Note: This Q&A has been lightly edited for style.
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