When principal photography on Jurassic Park III began on Aug. 30, 2000, the Joe Johnston-directed sequel to Steven Spielberg‘s movies didn’t have a completed screenplay.
As Johnston lamented in James Mottram’s Jurassic Park: The Ultimate Visual History, “Jurassic Park III is a prime example of why filmmakers should never embark on the ordeal of making a film without a rock-solid script.”
Nevertheless, the movie had a firm release date (July 18, 2001). “So the calendar dictated it also had a start date,” Johnston added. “Come hell or high water, we were going to start shooting with or without a script, which is exactly what happened.”
The result was a number of key plot points, the ending chief among them, remained in flux. Several options were floated throughout production, including the military bombing of Isla Sorna; a rescue by Costa Rican helicopters, during which Alan Grant (Sam Neill) tussles with a Pteranodon on the stepladder; and Ellie Grant (Laura Dern) arriving on a State Department chopper.
In the end (no pun intended), Johnston went with a variation on the third idea, with Ellie using her husband’s government connections to send the Navy and Marines to rescue Alan and the Kirby family from Site B.
Shot in January 2001, just six months before the movie was set to release, the finale received invaluable input from a high-ranking military veteran, thanks to a speed-dialed phone call by executive producer Kathleen Kennedy, who famously worked miracles on numerous Amblin projects prior to her tenure as President of Lucasfilm.
How a Four-Star U.S. Army General Helped Save Jurassic Park III
“We didn’t know what the Army would do in a real-life scenario,” Johnston recalled in Mottram’s 2021 book. “Kathy took out her cellphone and said, ‘I’ll ask Norman.’ I said, ‘Norman who?’ She just looked at me while waiting for Norman to answer and whispered ‘Schwarzkopf.'”
Johnston was floored when he heard who Kennedy was calling and told her, “‘Kathy, that’s like calling Louise Pasteur when your milk hits the expiration date.'”
Also known by the nickname “Stormin’ Norman,” General Schwarzkopf led the international coalition that defeated Iraq in the Gulf War. He retired shortly after the conflict with four stars under his belt (the highest rank for a general in peacetime), using the time to write his biography, It Doesn’t Take a Hero, appear at speaking engagements, hunt, fish and skeet shoot.
Schwarzkopf passed away in 2012 at the age of 78.
