Jurassic Park Film Script

This is the orrigional film script of Jurassic Park. Screenplay by David Koepp based upon the novel by Michael Crichton and on adaption by Michael Crichton and Malia Scotch Marmo. Finished at December 11, 1992.

1	EXT	JUNGLE	NIGHT
An eyeball, big, yellowish, distinctly inhuman, stares raptly between wooden slats, part of a large crate. The eye darts from side to side, alert as hell.

A legend tries to place us - -

ISLA NUBLAR 120 MILES WEST OF COSTA RICA

- - but to us it's still the middle of nowhere.

It's quiet for a second. A ROAR rises up from the jungle, deafening. The trees shake as something very, very large plows ahead through them, right at us. Every head gathered in this little clearing snaps, turning in the direction of the sound as it bursts through the trees.

It's a bulldozer. It drops its scoop and pushes forward into the back end of the crate, shoving it across the jungle floor towards an impressive fenced structure that towers over an enclosed section of thick jungle. There's a guard tower at one end of this holding open that makes it look like San Quentin.

The bulldozer pushes forward into the back end, the crate THUDS TO THE FLOOR. A door slides open in the pen, making a space as big as the end of the crate.

Nobody moves for a second, A grim-faced guy who seems to be in charge (Robert Muldoon, although we don't know it yet).

MULDOON Alright now, pushers move in. Loading team move it.

The movement as agitated whatever is inside the crate, and the whole thing shivers as GROWLS and SNAPS come from inside. Everyone moves back.

MULDOON (cont'd)

Alright, steady. Get back in there now, push. Get back in there, Don't let her know you're afraid!

The men go back to the crate and begin to push it into the slot. The crate THUDS UP AGAINST THE OPENING. A green light on the side of the pen lights up, showing contact has been made.

FROM INSIDE THE CRATE,

we get glimpses of what's on the other side of those wooden slates - - jungle foliage, MEN with rifles, searching searchlights. The view is herky-jerky as the crate put into position.

MULDOON

Well locked Loading team, step away. Joffrey, raise the gate.

A WORKER climbs to the top of the crate. The search lights are trained on the door.

The RIFFLEMEN throw the bolts on their rifles and CRACK their stun guns, sending arcs of current CRACKING through the air.

The WORKER gets ready to grab the gate when all at once - -

A ROAR from the inside the crate, and the panel flies out of his hands and SMACKS into him, knocking him clear off the crate.

Now everything happens at once. The WORKER THUDS to the jungle floor, the crate jerks away from the mouth of the holding pen flash, an alarm BUZZER sounds - -

- - and a claw SLASHES out from inside the crate. It sinks into the ankle of the WORKER. dragging him toward the dark mouth between the crate and the pen. The WORKER SCREAMS and paws the dirt, leaving long claw marks as he is rapidly dragged toward the crate.

Muldoon SHOUTS orders:

MULDOON

Tasers get in there, Goddamn it!

They FIRE their guns - the wood of the crate SPLINTERS.

Muldoon runs in and grabs the WORKER, trying to pull him free.

The wild arcs of currents from the stun gun flash and CRACK all around, but in a second - -

- - the WORKER is gone.

CUT TO:

2 EXT	MOUNTAINSIDE	DAY
MANO DE DIOS AMBER MINE

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

DONALD GENNARO, forty, in a city man's idea of hiking clothes and a hundred dollar haircut, approaches on a raft being pulled across a river by TWO MEN.

On the hillside, JUAN ROSTAGNO, thirty-ish, Costa Rican, a smart-looking guy in workers clothes, is waiting for him.

ROSTAGNO

Tengo mil pesos que dicen que se cae

(I have a thousand pesos that say he falls)

(or)

Apuesto mil pesos que se cae.

(I bet a thousand pesos he falls)

Gennaro finally lands, and Rostagno helps him off the raft.

GENNARO

Hola, Juanito

ROSTAGNO

Hola, bienvenido

Rostagno leads Gennaro towards the mine. Dozen of shirtless WORKERS claw and SCRAPE at a rocky mountainside that is the site of an extensive mining operation. The work is all done by hand, pick and shovel instead of dynamite and bulldozer.

GENNARO

What's this I hear at the airportŠ Hammond's not even here?

ROSTAGNO

He sends his apologies.

GENNARO

You're telling me that we're facing a $20 million lawsuit from the family of that injured worker and Hammond couldn't even be bothered to see me?

ROSTAGNO

He had to leave early to be with his daughter. She's getting a divorce.

GENNARO

I understand that.

(or)

I'm sorry to hear that. We'd be well advised to deal with this situation now. The insurance company - -

Gennaro almost falls, Rostagno helps him.

GENNARO (cont'd)

- -the underwriters of the park feel the accident raises some very serious questions about the safety of the park, and they're making the investors very anxious. I had to promise I would conduct a thorough on-site inspection.

ROSTAGNO

Hammond hates inspections. They slow everything down.

GENNARO

Juanito, if they pull the funding, that will really slow things down.

(or)

If they pull the funding that's going to slow things down around here.

A WORKER hurries up to them and busts into the conversation, breathless.

WORKER

(to Rostagno)

Jefe, encontramos otro mosquito, en el mismo sitio. (Chief, we found another mosquito in the same place)

ROSTAGNO

Seguro? Muestrame!

(Are you sure? Show me.)

The WORKER and ROSTAGNO scramble back deeper into the mine. Rostagno calls back over his shoulder to Gennaro.

ROSTAGNO (cont'd)

It seems like it's going to be a good day after all. They found another one! C'mon.

Gennaro struggles to keep up.

3 EXT	CAVE	DAY
ROSTAGNO and GENNARO move into the dark, dripping cave, where at least a dozen other WORKERS are gathered in a tight circle, staring at something intently.

Rostagno fights his way to the center of the group. One of the WORKERS hands him something and Rostagno examines it carefully.

It's a chuck of amber, a shiny yellow rock about the size of a half dollar.

GENNARO

If two experts sign off on the island, the insurance guys'll back off. I already got Ian Malcolm, but they think he's too trendy. They want Alan Grant.

ROSTAGNO

Grant? You'll never get him out of Montana.

GENNARO

Why not?

ROSTAGNO

Because he's like me. He's a digger.

Rostagno turns and holds the amber up to the sunlight streaming through the mouth of the cave.

With the light pouring through it, the amber is translucent, and we can see something inside this strange stone - -

- - a huge mosquito, long dead, entombed there.

ROSTAGNO

(smiles)

Hay que lindo eres vas hacer a much gente feliz.

(Oh you're so beautiful. You will make a lot of people happy)

CUT TO:

5 EXT	THE DIG	DAY
An artist's camel hair brush carefully sweeps away sand and rock to slowly reveal the dark curve of a fossil - it's a claw. A dentist's pick gently lifts it from the place its has laid for millions of years. Pull up to reveal a group of diggers working on a large skeleton. All we see are the tops of their hats. The paleontologist working on the claw lays it in his hand.

GRANT

(thoughtfully)

Four complete skeletons. . . .such a small area. . . the same time horizon - -

ELLIE

They died together?

GRANT

The taphonomy sure looks that way.

ELLIE

If they died together, they lived together. Suggests some kind of social order.

DR ALAN GRANT, mid-thirties, a ragged-looking guy with intense concentration you wouldn't want to get in the way of, carefully examines a claw.

DR ELLIE SATTLER, working with him, leans in close and studies it too. She paints the exposed bone with rubber cement. Ellie in her late twenties, athletic-looking. There's an impatience about Ellie, as if nothing in life happens quite fast enough for her.

Her face is almost pressed up against his, she's sitting so close.

GRANT (cont'd)

They hunted as a team. The dismembered tenontosaurus bone over there - that's lunch. But what killed our raptors in a lakebed, in a bunch like this? We better come up with something that makes sense.

ELLIE

A drought. The lake was shrinking - -

GRANT

(excited)

That's good. That's right! They died around a dried-up puddle! Without fighting each other. This is looking good.

From the bottom of the hill a voice SHOUTS to them:

VOLUNTERR (o.s.)

Dr Grant! Dr Sattler! We're ready to try again!

Grant SIGNS and sits up, stretching out his back.

GRANT

I hate computers.

He shoves the claw absent-mindedly into his pocket and he and Ellie walk toward the source of the voice. As they walk, we get our first look at the badlands. Exposed outcroppings of crumbling limestone stretch for miles in every direction, not a tree or a bush in sight.

In the dig itself, the ground is checkered with excavations everywhere. There's a base camp with five or six teepees, a flapping mess tent, a few cards, a flatbed truck with wrapped fossils loaded on it, and a mobile home. There are a dozen VOLUNTEERS of all ages at work in various places around the dig. The Volunteers are from all walks of life, dinosaur buffs. Three or four of them have CHILDREN with them, and the kids run around, like in a giant sandbox.

Grant, Ellie and a Volunteer walk down the hill. Grant spots a KID kicking dirt onto one of the digs. He notices and frowns.

GRANT

What's that kid doing?

(to the kid)

What are you doing there!? Excuse me! Can you just back off? This is very fragile! Are you out of your mind? Get off that and go find your parents!

(to Ellie)

Did you see what he just did?

The kid stomps away, pissed off.

KID

Asshole.

GRANT

(to Ellie)

Why do they have to bring their kids?!

ELLIE

You could hire your help. But there's four summers of work here, with the money for one. And you say it's a learning experience, sort of a vacation, and you get volunteers with kids.

He and Ellie arrive to where several VOLUNTEERS are clustered around a computer terminal that's set up on a table in a small tent, its flaps lashed open.

GRANT

(to the Volunteer)

Ready to give it a shot, Jerry?

A LITTLE GIRL moves a little too close to the machine.

ELLIE

Want to watch the computer?

Ellie quietly moves her out of Grant's way, to a place she can see.

VOLUNTEER

Thumper ready?

MAN

Ready.

VOLUNTEER

Fire.

The VOLUNTEER throws a switch on a machine that looks a bit like a floor buffer. The whole thing hops up into the air as it drives a soft lead pellet into the earth with a tremendous force. There is a dull THUD, the earth seems to vibrate, and all eyes turn to the computer screen - -

ELLIE

How long does this usually take?

VOLUNTEER

It should be immediate return. You shoot the radar into the ground, the bone bounces back....

The screen suddenly comes alive, yellow contour lines tracing across it in three waves, detailing a dinosaur skeleton.

VOLUNTEER

This new program's incredible! A few more years of development and you don't have to dig any more!

Grant looks at him, and his expression is positively wounded.

GRANT

Well, where's the fun in that?

VOLUNTEER

It looks a little distorted, but I don't think that's the computer.

ELLIE

(shakes her head)

Postmortem contraction of the posterior neck ligaments.

(to Grant)

Velociraptor?

GRANT

Yes. Good shape, too. Five, six feet high. I'm guessing nine feet long. Look at the - -

He points to part of the skeleton, but when his finger touches the screen the computer BEEPS at him and the image changes. He pulls his hand back, as if it shocked him.

VOLUNTEER

What's you do?

ELLIE

He touched it. Dr. Grant is not machine compatible.

GRANT

They've got it in for me.

The Volunteer LAUGHS and touches a different part of the screen, which brings the original image back. Grant continues, but doesn't get as close.

GRANT

Look at the half-moon shaped bone in the wrist. No wonder these guys learned to fly.

The group laughs. Grant is surprised.

GRANT (cont'd)

Now, seriously. Show of the hands. How many of you have read my book?

Everyone stops laughing and looks away. Ellie raises her hand supportively. So does the Volunteer, Grant sighs.

GRANT (cont'd)

Great. Well maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds than reptiles. Look at the public bone - - it's turned backwards, just like a bird. The vertebrae - - full of hollows and air sacs, just like a bird. Even the word raptor means "bird of prey".

The kid steps forward and looks at the computer skeleton critically.

KID

That doesn't look very scary. More like a six-foot turkey.

Everyone sort of draws in their breath and steps aside, revealing the KID, standing alone. Grant turns to the Kid, lowers his sunglasses, and stares at him like he just came from another planet.

Grant strolls over to the KID, puts his arms around his shoulders in a friendly way.

GRANT

Try to imagine yourself in the Jurassic Period.

(or)

Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period.

Ellie rolls her eyes.

ELLIE

(under her breath)

Here we go.

GRANT (cont'd)

You'd get your first look at the six-foot turkey as you move into a clearing. But raptor, he knew you were there a long time ago. He moves like a bird; lightly, bobbing his head, And you keep still, because you think maybe his visual acuity's based on movement, like a T- rex, and he'll lose you if you don't move. But no. Not VELOCIRAPTOR. You stare at him, and he just stares back. That's when the attack comes - - not from the front, no, from the side, from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there.

Grant walks around the Kid.

GRANT (cont'd)

Velociraptor's a pack hunter, you see, he uses coordinated attack patterns, and he's out in force today. And he slashes at you with this - -

He takes the claw from his pocket and holds it at the front of the raptor's three-toed foot.

GRANT (cont'd)

- - a six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. They don't bother to bite the jugular, like a lion, they just slash here, here - -

He points to the Kid's chest and thigh.

GRANT (cont'd)

- - or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. Point is, you're alive when they start to eat you. Whole thing took about four seconds.

The Kid is on the verge if tears.

GRANT (cont'd)

So, you know, try to show a little respect.

And with that he walks back across the camp, returning to his skeleton. Ellie hurries to catch up with him.

ELLIE

You know, if you really wanted to scare the kid you could've just pulled a gun on him.

GRANT

Yeah, I know, you know...kids. You want to have one of those?

ELLIE

Well, not one of those, well yeah, a possibly one at some point could be a good thing. What's so wrong with kids?

GRANT

Oh, Ellie, look. They're noisy, they're messy, they're sticky, they're expensive.

ELLIE

Cheap, cheap, cheap.

GRANT

They smell.

ELLIE

Oh my god, they do not! They don't smell.

GRANT

They do smell. Some of them smell.. babies smell.

ELLIE

Alright, the one on the airplane had an accident, but usually babies don't smell.

GRANT

They know very little about the Jurassic Period they know less about the Cretaceous.

ELLIE

The what?

GRANT

The Cretaceous.

ELLIE

Anything else, you old fossil?

GRANT

Yeah, plenty. Some of them can't walk!

ELLIE

It frustrates me so much that I love you, that I need to strangle you right now!

Ellie playfully takes Grant's hat off and gives him a tight hug. They kiss.

A strange wind seems to be whipping up. Grant and Ellie look around, confused. The wind is getting stronger, blowing dirt and sand everywhere, filling in everything they've dug out, blowing the protective canvasses off. Now there's a more familiar ROAR, and they look up and see it - -

- - a huge helicopter, descending on the camp.

ELLIE

(to the volunteers) Get some canvasses and cover anything that's exposed!

Grant's already on it, trying to desperately to protect the skeleton he's excavating. He looks up at the helicopter and SHOUTS, shaking his fist.