How to Get Cast in a ‘Jurassic Park’ Movie

Adapted from Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel, the original Steven Spielberg–directed film follows three scientists—Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum)—as they visit Isla Nublar, home of Jurassic Park. Created by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), the newly developed theme park is made up of cloned dinosaurs. The scientists have been invited to the island to give their safety seal of approval, as requested by the park’s investors, after a velociraptor killed its handler. But after marveling at Hammond’s successful resurrection of the extinct species, those on the island soon discover that a security breach has left them vulnerable, putting everyone’s life at risk in a fight unlike any since the dawn of time.

There are six films in the “Jurassic Park” franchise, with a seventh—“Jurassic World: Rebirth”—set for theatrical release on July 2, 2025. Here are the existing titles you’ll want to binge before its premiere:

• “Jurassic Park” (1993)
• “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997)
• “Jurassic Park III” (2001)
• “Jurassic World” (2015)
• “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
• “Jurassic World: Dominion” (2022)

While sequels “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic Park III” explore the ramifications of Hammond’s second failed Jurassic Park experiment, the franchise’s 2015 revival, “Jurassic World,” finds the island transformed into a dinosaur resort, where getaways turn into nightmares when its prehistoric inhabitants wreak havoc among the tourists. In “Rebirth,” a new wave of scientists must secure the dinosaurs’ genetic material from a forbidden island, as their ancient DNA has the life-altering potential to save humankind.

While the first film featured those who became the faces of the franchise—Neill, Dern, Goldblum, and Attenborough—the sequels have seen an array of big-name actors join the ongoing saga. 

“The Lost World” added Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn, while “Jurassic Park III” welcomed Téa Leoni and William H. Macy. When the series was rebooted with “Jurassic World,” Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard became the series’ new faces, as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, respectively. 

Of course, “Dominion” reunited Neill, Dern, and Goldblum (Goldblum also reprised his role in “Fallen Kingdom”) in their original roles—a callback to the first film that brought the story full circle. Now, as “Jurassic Park” introduces its newest era with “Rebirth,” Scarlett Johansson (Zora Bennett), Jonathan Bailey (Dr. Henry Loomis), Mahershala Ali (Duncan Kincaid), and Rupert Friend (Martin Krebs) will become part of the franchise’s enduring legacy.

Janet Hirshenson (“Home Alone”) and Jane Jenkins (“Apollo 13”) cast the first two “Jurassic Park” movies, while Nancy Foy (“Jumanji”) and Wendy Washbrook (“Spider-Man”) cast “Jurassic Park III.”

When the series was revived in 2015, John Papsidera (“Oppenheimer”) cast “Jurassic World,” while Nina Gold (“Game of Thrones”) cast “Fallen Kingdom” and “Dominion.” Jina Jay (“Dune: Part One”) cast “Rebirth.”

There’s plenty that “Jurassic Park” can teach us about winning a role, but for Dern, it helped that she was Spielberg’s top pick for the role of Dr. Ellie Sattler. “I was talking with Nicolas Cage, and we had just done ‘Wild at Heart’ together, and I said to him, ‘Nic, they want to put me on the phone with Steven Spielberg, but they want to talk to me about a dinosaur movie….’ And he was like, ‘You are doing a dinosaur movie! No one can ever say no to a dinosaur movie!’ I was like, ‘Really?’ And he’s like, ‘Are you kidding? It’s a dream of my life to do a movie with dinosaurs!’ So he was such an ­influence on me,” Dern told Entertainment Weekly.

“Then I talked to Steven and he goes, ‘I know that you’re doing your independent films, but I need you to be chased by dinosaurs, in awe of dinosaurs, and have the adventure of a lifetime. Will you do this with me?’ And I was like, ‘Sure,’ ” she said.

For Neill, getting cast as Dr. Alan Grant was a whirlwind experience. “I was in L.A., on the way to a job in Canada, and my agent called and said, ‘Steven Spielberg would like to meet with you in half an hour.’ So I got a cab and I went over to Steven’s house and we sat in his hallway and I looked at his art and we talked about this thing, ‘Jurassic Park.’ It was all very surprising. So I went to Canada and two days later, I had the part. And three or four weeks after that we started shooting in Hawaii,” he told EW. “So it all happened real quick. I hadn’t read the book, knew nothing about it, hadn’t heard anything about it, and in a matter of weeks I’m working with Spielberg.”

Meanwhile, Ariana Richards, who played Hammond’s (Attenborough) granddaughter Lex Murphy in the original film, stood out from the crowd in the most genuine way possible. “I was called into a casting office, and they just wanted me to scream,” she said. “I heard later on that Steven had watched a few girls on tape that day, and I was the only one who ended up waking his sleeping wife off the couch, and she came running through the hallway to see if the kids were all right.”

However, Goldblum wasn’t the only person considered for the iconic role of Dr. Ian Malcolm. Comedian Jim Carrey was also a strong contender. “[Carrey] auditioned for a very long time. He was really into it,” Hirshenson told SyFy. “I think he really wanted the role. He was good; it was a totally different way to go. I remember he came in very enthusiastically.”

But Goldblum’s dry sarcasm ultimately struck the right chord with both Hirshenson and Spielberg. “We auditioned [Carrey] for Malcolm and then Goldblum came in and, of course, blew me away. He’s Goldblum; nobody’s like him. I think Steven pretty quickly also [knew] that was the one,” she added.

Currently, no open casting calls are available for the “Jurassic Park” series, as future movies haven’t been announced yet. However, “Rebirth” reportedly marks the beginning of a new era for the franchise, so it’s safe to say there will likely be additional installments on the horizon. With that in mind, we recommend bookmarking our main casting page, which regularly updates us with the latest opportunities. And keep this page handy, too, as you’ll need our go-to guide when your chance does arise.

Allow your fears to fuel your passion. “[One] thing that has helped me immensely is when heroes of mine that I’m working with tell me how afraid they are,” Dern told us. “And Meryl Streep did give me a gift of talking about how afraid she is every time she starts something new. And that was a very delicious gift to be reminded of.”

Dern now applies that revelation to all of her projects, even when she’s unsure of what’s to come. “[Now,] I really love that I let myself have no idea what I’m going to do next, because if I did, that means I’ve done it before, and that’s not what we’re here to do,” she said.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Macy recognizes that acting “is a difficult profession and a frightening profession” because there are countless unknowns. “Just as the character doesn’t know how he’s going to survive, as an actor, when you get cast in that role, the fear is: How am I going to pull this off? And we have technique, which we bring to bear to cover every base that you possibly can. But the question remains: How do I pull this off? And the answer is not forthcoming—never has been, never will be,” he told us. “You have to walk in terrified that you’re going to fail. There’s no getting around the fact that most actors, a lot of the time, feel like frauds. And the mature actor says, ‘That’s great.’ ”

That’s why, Macy added, “You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, because that’s exactly what the character’s feeling. It’s exactly correct that you’re feeling that way. If you map it all out and know exactly how you’re going to do it, that’s mechanical acting. That’s making it up at home and bringing it in and regurgitating it. Audiences are clever. They know the difference between a true moment that just happened in real time right before their very eyes and a made-up moment that was practiced in the mirror.”

Ground yourself by connecting with the character. Although Ali established an Oscar-winning career for himself, he told Backstage he wishes he’d known to relax a bit more during his early years. “I don’t want to say I took myself too seriously, but I put a lot of pressure on myself coming out of school. I saw so many people leave the business behind; certain opportunities disappear for folks who had to go into other professions. That kind of terrified me. As a result, I wanted things to happen really quickly. I could have saved myself a lot of anxiety if I had just relaxed,” he said.

But now, with this knowledge at the ready, Ali has been able to hone his craft and find ways to connect with the characters he’s looking to play in an effort to add that necessary level of authenticity. “I look for an in with characters and make it about being truthful and connecting to that character in a centered way,” he explained. “Sometimes the in with a character is really getting through your physical choices—how you might sit, how you carry your body. If the stakes are really high, you need to lean forward a little bit so your thoughts arrive more urgently. I assume you have to really go in and be extraordinarily prepared.”