Jurassic Park: Script Excerpts

(Note: this script was downloaded from the Internet)


                                JURASSIC PARK



                                 First Draft
                                     by
                              MICHAEL CRICHTON



                                 Re-write by
                             MARIA SCOTCH MARMO
                                   3/14/92 

Note: the movie's hook is not in this version of the script. In fact, the movie is much stronger than this early draft - showing again how studios are more interested in concept than in execution. Of course, this was based on a best-selling novel, too.

Here are the major structural moments:

The Act I Plot Point:

In the movie, we see our first dinosaur much sooner than in this early version of the script. In the movie, first we SEE, then we UNDERSTAND. In this draft, the opposite - and weaker - strategy prevails.

Here's the moment in the script:

A FANFARE of trumpets and then a pre-recorded voice speaks from a console in each cruiser. Video screens display a welcome message. PRE-RECORDED VOICE Welcome to Jurassic Park. You are now entering the lost world of the prehistoric past, a world of mighty creatures long gone from the face of the earth, which you are privileged to see for the first time ... Regis uses his walkie-talkie to contact Grant's cruiser. REGIS (ON WALKIE) That's Richard Kiley. We spared no expense. PRE-RECORDED VOICE We'll begin our tour today with the herbivores ... INT/EXT CRUISERS, FIRST TOUR STOP - DAY Between massive tree trunks, a spectacular view: storm clouds touch mountaintops. Below, the lagoon ripples in pink crescents. PRE-RECORDED VOICE ... and the grasses are a species of juniper, and samples can be purchased at the gift shop. Now, if everyone will take a look to the right ... All eyes swing that way. Grant doesn't see a thing. Nor do the others. AHEAD, Timmy pulls the binoculars out of the equipment pouch and studies the location. Lex grabs the night goggles. Timmy pulls them from her. REGIS Look ... LEX AND TIMMY I don't see anything. Do you see anything? There's nothing there. REGIS Something's out there ... IN THE SECOND CAR, a fly buzzes on Grant's windshield. Grant hangs out his window almost sniffing the air for some movement. Nothing. SUDDENLY the trees in front of them move! A deep trumpeting SOUND and TWO BRACHIOSAURS rumble away from the side of the road. The ground SHAKES as they walk, their BELLOWING fills the air. Led by Grant, the passengers rise through the open top of their Land Cruisers, to look up at the dinosaurs far above. DROOPING FROM ABOVE, leaves and little branches shower on Grant. Utter amazement fills Grant's face, then his mouth breaks into a giant smile then a laugh. He simply can't believe his eyes. His laugh becomes raucous and euphoric. GRANT Ellie! Can you imagine the excavation team seeing this! Behind him, Ellie's whole person is awestruck, immobile. Gennaro squints, straining to make sense of this unbelievable reality

Midpoint plot point:

INT T-REX PADDOCK - NIGHT The T-Rex's huge hind feet crash down, one large foot following after the other in long, powerful strides. BACK ON CRUISERS, REST AREA - FIRST CRUISER There is a thud, and then a THUD, and then a THUD. Tim and Lex share a frightened look. Now the thud grows LOUDER. There is a CRASHING SOUND, the whole cruiser SHAKES. Then silence. Then another SHAKE. CAMERA PUSHES IN TILL CLOSE - Timmy stares out with his night goggles. TIM'S NIGHTSCOPE POV IN CLOSE - T-Rex paws rest on the electric fence. Tim takes off his goggles, stares, transfixed. Regis picks them up. EXTREME CLOSEUP - of muscular forepaws with pebbled, grainy skin and thick, curved nails comfortably gripping a thick wire strand. The T-Rex moves his body forward of the brush, pushes against the fence. IN THE SECOND CRUISER - Grant and Gennaro stare out, unseeing in the rain and darkness. CLOSE ON LEX - Tears roll down her cheek. She cries silently with an unknown fear. Regis pulls the goggles from his eyes, starts to gag, checks it. REGIS Jesus Christ. LEX Bad language. REGIS Jesus Christ. The fence isn't electrified. LEX Is that bad? Regis turns, looks out the side window, away from the T-Rex. Regis is shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly he throws open his door and bolts off into the rain, leaving the door open. No move from the Rex. Regis races by the second cruiser. Grant stares out at him. TIM Mr. Regis! Mr. Regis, where are you going? LEX He just left us. He just left us all alone. Timmy, Timmy how could he do that? We're all alone! We're all alone! FLASH OF LIGHTNING. FLASH. The Rex butts his head. TIM'S POV - The fence bangs down on top of his cruiser. Timmy and Lex recoil from the scrape of the wire mesh against the car. IN THE SECOND CRUISER - GRANT AND GENNARO'S POV - through the almost obscuring rain they see the fallen fence. An unseen weight pulls on it further, causing its electric wire to pop like over-tuned guitar strings. TIMMY REACHES - out into the rain for the open door handle. Another LIGHTNING FLASH and the creature is revealed standing between the two cruisers, atop the crushed fence. His head turns back and forth, he's deciding on his prey. Grant and Gennaro or Tim and Lex? Timmy slams the door shut. He looks directly at the Rex, just a few feet away. The Rex turns to him, stares back. Lex SCREAMS and Timmy claps a hand over her mouth. There is a whisper over Tim's walkie-talkie. GRANT (ON WALKIE) Timmy, be quiet. Don't move. BACK ON GRANT - He snaps off the walkie-talkie. HIS POV - The rain runs in rivulets down the pebbled skin of the muscular hind legs. The animal's head is out-of-view, above the rooftops of the cars. The Rex lifts its huge hind leg. GENNARO Holy shit! Any suggestions what we do now? GRANT Can't think of a thing. The T-Rex slowly circles Grant's cruiser.

Act Two Plot Point:

ARNOLD Nedry jammed all the communication lines. He inserted some command, a lockout into the program code. I can't find it, because I gave that restore command and it erased part of the program listings. WU So? Just reset - shut the system down and you'll clear the memory. Everything will be in the normal wakeup mode. ARNOLD Shut the system down? WU And reset. ARNOLD I've never done that before. And I'm reluctant to do it. Maybe it's true, all systems will come on, but maybe they won't. ELLIE Look, there is a sick man here who needs medical attention or he'll die. Four people are out there, missing in your park. We need search teams. We have to have a phone or radio. Arnold still hesitates. ELLIE Well? ARNOLD Well, it's just that the safety systems don't function with the computer shut down and - Ellie boils over. ELLIE - turn the goddamn safety systems off! Can't you get it through your head that we have no choice? Arnold looks at Hammond, who now stares out into the park. Without turning, Hammond nods his consent. ARNOLD Okay. Arnold gets up and goes to the main panel. He opens the doors and uncovers the metal swing-latches over the safety switches. He pops them off, one after another. ARNOLD You asked for it. And you got it. He throws the master switch. The control room goes black. All monitors go black. Arnold, Wu and Ellie stand in the dark. ELLIE How long do we have to wait? ARNOLD Thirty seconds.

Resolution:

A different, more verbal and weaker ending is in this script than in the movie.

IN THE COPTER - SLOWLY PAN the exhausted faces of Muldoon and his workers, Lex and Timmy holding onto each other, and Grant huddles next to Ellie. He reaches out and puts an arm around her shoulder. She reaches up and pulls his arm close. ELLIE They're so beautiful. They're condemned, aren't they? Even those embryo fragments had the same viral contamination. GRANT I have a theory. Ellie looks up in surprise. She give him a big smile. ELLIE You have a theory? Grant smiles back at her. GRANT I think that they could never completely isolate the dinosaur DNA. There was always some microscopic mosquito contamination. But at the molecular level, that was enough. Every dinosaur received the same genetic massage, the encoding that every mosquito gets to terminate life after a season. ELLIE So the very process itself was flawed. She's sad. Grant hugs her. Over her shoulder he gives a parting glance to the island. A green jewel in a blue sea. Suddenly it is obliterated by clouds. CAMERA PANS AWAY AND SWOOPS DOWN from the copter. IT CROSSES the sky. THE CAMERA DESCENDS to Isla Nublar, slowly reveling in its natural beauty and finally coming to earth in the midst of the verdant jungle. IN THE JUNGLE - MAGIC HOUR Hammond slowly climbs a steep hill covered with creeping growth. He almost reaches the top when he slips. He falls to the soft ground and rolls. He tumbles he lplessly, rolling and spinning down the sharp drop, finally coming to a complete stop in a shallow pool of water. Face down, his head splashes into the puddle. No movement. Just the sound of labored breath. CAMERA PANS to Hammond's hand, half-submerged in water. CAMERA MOVES INTO EXTREME CLOSEUP as a mosquito lands on his hand. RACK OUT AND DISSOLVE TO: EXT OCEAN - NIGHT The army copter circles lower and lower as it finds the Queen Anne B, slowly drifting across the moonlit water. FADE OUT.

Also note that the format above is unacceptable today.

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MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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