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James Cameron Nearly Directed JURASSIC PARK

Director James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic) reveals that he nearly directed the film adaptation of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, saying that his take on the story would've been "nastier" than Steven Spielberg's classic.

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By Paul Romano - 9/13/2012


Speaking with The Huffington Post, Avatar director James Cameron revealed that he really wanted to adapt Michael Crichton's highly successful science fiction novel Jurassic Park, which began a franchise consisting of movies, comics, video games, and even the sequel novel The Lost World. He said that he was very close to buying the book's film rights, before being beat out by Steven Spielberg. Cameron said that Spielberg beat him to the film rights "By a few hours".

The director goes on to praise Spielberg's vision of the story, while also commending him for going for a more kid-friendly route compared to Cameron's "nastier" take. "But when I saw the film, I realised that I was not the right person to make the film, he [Spielberg] was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been Aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn't have been fair.

"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. His sensibility was right for that film. I'd have gone further, nastier, much nastier."

As interested as I would be in seeing Cameron's take, I'm glad that Steven Spielberg ended up helming Jurassic Park (which is one of my favorite movies of all time). You can see the original back on the big screen - this time in 3D - on April 5th, 2013.







Source: The Huffington Post
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43 Comments
DrHorrible - 9/13/2012, 12:47 PM
Sure. I bet it would've been as nasty as blue alien sex.





;)
SUPERBATSPIDERMAN - 9/13/2012, 1:09 PM
Well it's not like Cameron would have made it better because Jurassic Park is a special effects masterpiece. It is gonna be 20 years old next year and it still has better special effects than most movies today.

I like Spielberg way more than I do Cameron anyway. Cameron might have made the Terminator but Spielberg has such a bigger filmography than him.
LoudNoises - 9/13/2012, 1:13 PM
I don't get why people hate Cameron. He is a good director, I don't know how this is even disputable.
marvel72 - 9/13/2012, 1:17 PM
definetly a good director i like his older films more then his newer ones.

i just don't like his ego.
SonOfStarKiller - 9/13/2012, 1:25 PM
Man, you can't even mention Cameron's name around here without people getting their panties in a bunch. Hack? Ego maniac? Believe what you want but someone who can generate close to 5 billion dollars with just two movies says a lot about the man and his talents.
marvel72 - 9/13/2012, 1:33 PM
^ my last post should read than not then. :P
sKeemAn - 9/13/2012, 1:33 PM
Cameron is an awesome director, but I'm glad Spielberg did the movie. Still one of the best CGI movies of that time
GoILL - 9/13/2012, 1:39 PM
@Nomis

I totally agree with that statement.
darkmetal - 9/13/2012, 1:44 PM
@SonOfStarKiller Cameron's a good director, though I think many, myself included, liked Avatar more than it deserved when it was released.
It seems most look back on it now and do not like it as much as before.
Cameron seemed to derail after Titanic. He's made 1 film since. That's almost like an Axl Rose pace.
I think he let Titanic's success make him too picky.

And now he's letting Avatar ruin the rest of his career.
Any more Avatar films are merely more of the 1st.
Cameron could instead be creating original films that kick ass not devoting the rest of his career to one film.
jimoakley666 - 9/13/2012, 1:52 PM
Jurassic Park is, hands down, my favourite movie. I went to see it shit loads of times in the cinema when it came out. Must have been 11 at the time.
SuspenseSmith - 9/13/2012, 1:53 PM
Thank Odin that didn't happen.
lokibane2012 - 9/13/2012, 1:55 PM
James Cameron is fine. The stories of his recent films suck but the actual directorial work is top-notch.

And he didn't put a gun to anybody's head to go watch his films. It's us, the audience, that watched his films to 2 billion dollar grosses.

But yeah, he is kind of a smug asshole. Even here, he gives a bit of a back-handed complement to Spielberg.
"Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds"

Yeesh, is it that hard to say that "Spielberg made a film that anybody could enjoy".
SonOfStarKiller - 9/13/2012, 1:55 PM
@Darkmetal- I don't have a problem with people not liking a directors work, regardless of how much money it makes. I know people personally who hate Avatar, although they haven't even seen it. What bothers me is the sudden hatred for the man. Cameron's a director who is able to play by his own rules and not let studio execs dictate what he does. That's EXACTLY how we would want it if we were film makers. And God forbid if the man forms an opinion or speaks openly and truthfully about other films. We all have opinions. We come to this site to voice them. The difference is these opinions come from a man that has made a ton of money. Money that allows his to do whatever he wants, and when he wants to do them. But for reason he gets the word EGO thrown at him. I'm sure if he decided to do another Terminator movie, most people here would be back on the bandwagon again.
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 1:57 PM
@ Nomis sadly I agree as well.

Cameron is making Whedon and Spielberg feel like they made kiddie movies and they still can't see him!

Ok now he wants beef! Lol.

J/k guys. I love and appreciate all these filmmakers, even the newbie.
I just don't like all this backlash and undeserved hate.

Cameron impresses me in particular because he started late in the game.

Spielberg started like in the womb n shit! Lol.
LoudNoises - 9/13/2012, 2:07 PM
@lokibane2012

That wasn't a back-handed remark and it's reasons like this where people read a statement and interpret it completely wrong that gives other people the impression that a director is an ego maniac when in fact it couldn't be further from the truth. He isn't saying that speilberg made a movie that is for 8 year olds. He is saying that seilberg recognized something he did not about the novel. That even an 8 year old should be able to enjoy a movie about dinosaurs coming to life where as he would have made a movie that was catered to adults only. It's a compliment. It's humble even. He basically said that speilberg was the right man for that job.
darkmetal - 9/13/2012, 2:15 PM
@SonOfStarKiller I think some really resent Cameron's seeming belief that we need him to tell us how to live our lives.

And his use of SciFi to preach and teach is a bit bizarre at times.
For example in T2, it was just an action movie with new CGI. At the end of the film we get a narration from "Sarah Connor" telling us that if a Terminator can learn to value life, maybe we can too."
A nice message but asking people to stop the fighting because "The Terminator" learned to value life was not the best way to deliver that message.

Now he seems to want to use the plight of the fictional "Navi" to tell us lesser people to stop pollution.

Some of the issues important to him would be served better by doing films that dramatize real life or he could do documentaries.

But asking people to learn from "The Terminator" or "The Navi", which are figments of his imagination is not only a stealthy way of saying Learn From James Cameron but it's possibly insane.
Vapes - 9/13/2012, 2:16 PM
See, now I wanna see Cameron's version. Le sigh.
jessepostal - 9/13/2012, 2:22 PM
Spielberg had so much magic back than, or maybe it was just cuz i was a kid growing up with his movies but jp will always be one of my favs along with jaws. Timless classics
AutobotCommander84 - 9/13/2012, 2:25 PM
I can't believe how James Cameron became a billionaire. He wasn't raised in a wealthy family like J.J. Abrams, dropped out of community college, and became a truck driver. Then he saw Star Wars and decided that he wanted to be a film director. Now he's probably one of the gods of film.
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 2:38 PM
@Bonus

"LOL! he came out his mom and yelled...CUT! ;)"

HA HA! The doctor was an actor and his dad was A.D.! lol.
SeaSerpentine - 9/13/2012, 2:41 PM
"'Aliens' with dinosaurs", so in other words, "Carnosaur 2".

But seriously, his take on the film would have been interesting. I wonder if he would have Ian Malcom use a power loader, like this unreleased toy.
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 2:44 PM
I meant.. @Nomis

Sorry dude. Lol.
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 2:48 PM
@AutobotCommander84

Exactly. Kinda inspirational, makes you wanna go for it!

I woulda loved to have seen his JP.
TheFox - 9/13/2012, 2:50 PM
Jeez, we've been getting a lot of these "James Cameron talks about something random" articles. Maybe the next one should be titled "James Cameron Just Will Not Shut Up."

Z
Supes17 - 9/13/2012, 3:00 PM
Most of the hatred for him is because of his massive ego. He is the Donald Trump of Hollywood directors..

I can't see Jurassic Park any other way.
Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park is a classic.
The fact that it made $914,691,118 back in 1993 amazes me. I still love it
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 3:18 PM
@Nomas Ah! I see what you did there. ; D

Oops! Damn Spanish spellchecker. Lol. jk

@ Supes17 So he's not modest about his accomplishments? That don't make him a bad person.
Yes JurassicPark was awesome and huge by 94 but Titanic did 1.8 billion by 98!
angus666 - 9/13/2012, 3:29 PM
Meh. Jurassic Park is too good to care.
ChanchoMcGrady - 9/13/2012, 3:35 PM
Cameron is a good (albeit overrated)director, but I like Spielberg better.
Sparrowsabre7 - 9/13/2012, 3:39 PM
I really like the movie, but sounds like Cameron's would have been closer to the book, which is pretty much Aliens with dinosaurs. The book is excessively violent and I love it even more than the movie (a looooooooooooooooot of science/techno babble though, to the point where it's almost fetishistic)
EarOne - 9/13/2012, 4:12 PM
Aliens with dinos...hmmm...sounds enticing. i mean, i don't mind spielberg, but i was expecting the JAWS' spielberg, cuz crichton's novel is pretty intense.
BackwardGalaxy - 9/13/2012, 4:28 PM
I like Cameron.
Bane2099 - 9/13/2012, 5:51 PM
Jurassic Park was the very first novel I read cover to cover when I was younger and I loved it... though the film took liberty of changing and excluding some stuff from the book it still came out such a classic movie :]
IIIAdamantiumIII - 9/13/2012, 5:52 PM
omg his Jp would have been the tits
UrbanKnight - 9/13/2012, 5:57 PM
@tea I've seen Spielberg show his egotism once in a while too, throughout the years.
Back in 02, right after Spider-Man broke records, he was quoted saying something like...

"Oh I had a chance to direct Spider-Man. My kids where begging me to do it and Harry Potter! But I explained to them, this is daddys personal time now. I have to do what is rewarding and satisfying for me now".

...Or something like that.

Nearly every director shows that side in one way or another (from Nolan to Whedon), human nature, i guess.

Cameron stands out more, while others are more passive aggressive about it.

They act like a buncha rappers. Lol.

I agree tho. He can be a dick and a half. Lol.

Speaking of... How's it hangin buddy?? :p

Welcome back! :)
lokibane2012 - 9/13/2012, 6:17 PM
@LoudNoises

I know it was a compliment. It was just backhanded. And James Cameron isn't some naive, innocent, little boy. He is a grown ass, intelligent man who has made the two highest grossing films of all time, and dealt with all kinds of behind the scene politics. You don't get where he is without being a shrewd SOB.

Which is why it is a fact that he knows exactly what he is saying, and understands exactly what it would mean. The "8 year old" part was a calculated backhanded compliment.

Now, if you want to believe that he's a poor, misunderstood little lad, then do that. It was just a minor observation I made and I don't want to turn this into some kind of flame war.
Godzillafart - 9/13/2012, 7:18 PM
Would have loved to see Cameron's take...but he is right about Spielberg being the guy for the job.
Godzillafart - 9/13/2012, 7:19 PM
Although Spielberg could have taken it one step nastier...and the hunter character could have gotten a kill or two more on the raptors.
Optimus83 - 9/13/2012, 8:41 PM
¡¡¡JURASSIC PARK VS. TERMINATOR!!!. ...¡¡¡GOOD!!!
CCR - 9/13/2012, 9:15 PM
It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of the man himself, no one here knows him anyway. The point is he's lost his touch with making great movies, he's more into the style over the substance, and NOBODY can counter that fact. In the last 15 years we've gotten Titanic and Avatar from him. Shallow b.s. eaten up by the easily-amused. THAT'S why they made the money. Now The Avengers and TDKR on the other hand, made bookoo bucks because INTELLIGENT people ALSO loved them. Big difference in my book. But if you love 3-D you just couldn't understand, and I feel sorry for you, lol. Amen.
BenderdickCumPatch - 9/14/2012, 12:40 AM
His would have been nice to see.
Rothwilder - 9/14/2012, 5:49 AM
People are posting Cameron articles to cause drama, since the Nolan-Marvel thing has died down.

The website needs TRAFFIC, after all :)

Scoreboard, Haters gonna Hate, WHATEVER. Cameron has made some legendary films over the last 30 years and dominates the box office, the awards, the BANK, the peoples choice, etc.

I wish Intruder was around. I need that LET'S ROCK gif.
fettastic - 9/14/2012, 7:09 AM
Cameron is a fantastic director. His films are like if a 13 year old boy had a magic wand and could make his greatest fantasies come alive.

I have no doubt he would have made a thrilling Jurassic Park. I have even less doubt Spielberg's would be better, as the man himself admits.
muzman12 - 9/14/2012, 3:23 PM
James Hammerhead should just go away, Im sorry but his films just arent that good, they made a lot of money, but that just proves society dont have very good taste!!

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