We talk with Jurassic World Rebirth stars Mahershala Ali and Rupert Friend about what it’s like to act opposite dinosaurs…which are actually just tennis balls on sticks.They also delve into the perils of filming in the Thai jungle, the Spielbergian spirit woven through this latest instalment in the iconic franchise, and the role music plays in their creative process – including how to craft the perfect character playlist to get into the role.Jurassic World Rebirth is in cinemas now.
00:00The entire, ah, ah, ah, ah, it was just like a bunch of, ah, so I had no clue what we had done.
00:08Mahershala, Rupert, hello, how are you both doing?
00:10Well, thank you.
00:11This film really feels like a love letter to the original 1993 film.
00:15So what can fans expect from this latest installment and how does it fit into the franchise?
00:20What you said, that it definitely pays homage to the first film.
00:24It's a love letter to Spielberg as well as to the franchise.
00:26You know, Gareth wanted to pay respect to that while doing something that is, I think you'd agree, very unique.
00:34I think it's definitely character-driven as much as the effects and the dinosaurs are amazing.
00:39I really loved watching my colleagues develop these characters and getting to be with them on this journey was really wonderful.
00:47Can you be ready tomorrow?
00:49I can guarantee your safety.
00:50I mean, more or less.
00:52More or less?
00:53It really taps into that sort of Spielberg magic that I think a lot of us can feel very nostalgic about.
01:00Yeah.
01:01And do you have memories of watching Jurassic Park for the first time?
01:05Absolutely.
01:05And that nostalgia, I think, is for a kind of storytelling that Spielberg exemplified, which was both cinematic but also truthful and grounded in very human moments.
01:16When you think about the first film, you think about the kids underneath the jeep thing.
01:21You think about Laura Dern's head being turned to watch the beautiful thing.
01:25And Ian Malcolm and his droplets of water and all that.
01:29It wasn't just, oh, wow, they built a dinosaur.
01:31It was very grounded in human stories.
01:34Life finds a way.
01:36There are so many jump scare moments in this film.
01:39How did you manage to convey that when I imagine you're sometimes looking at not a real dinosaur?
01:47Spoilers.
01:48Maybe, like, is it like a man with, like, tennis balls or what?
01:52A tennis ball.
01:54Yeah, we couldn't afford more than one.
01:55We couldn't afford it.
01:56Tiny budget.
01:57A stick and a tennis ball.
01:59A stick and a ball.
02:00Yeah, a very grubby tennis ball.
02:03And that's it.
02:04The illusion is shattered.
02:06We would, but I think around our last day, I would say, when you came back from having a child.
02:13That's right.
02:13You showed up on set and we had, like, some humans in a dinosaur sort of mask.
02:19That was our kind of first and only time actually having, like, you know, something that felt in the world of a dinosaur.
02:29So it was really a lot of leaning on your imagination.
02:32Oh, my God.
02:33For both of you, is it fair to say that this was quite a different process?
02:37Because I think both of you are used to working on very emotional, human-driven stories.
02:42And this is, like, on such a huge scale.
02:45I don't want to speak for you, but anything else I've ever done?
02:47No, no, I'm with you.
02:48Like you said, I've never done anything on this scale.
02:53Nor have, Mahershala made a really interesting point earlier that I'm not sure I've ever done anything where there's four of us in it.
02:58But we don't really ever work with each other.
03:01Right, okay.
03:02We're together looking outwards all the time.
03:04We don't really have any.
03:06So it's this very, time is very difficult but comforting feeling of an energetic alliance.
03:12But our, the thing that you all can see, we couldn't see.
03:16So that was, you know, it's a funny challenge.
03:18So you've pretty much experienced it for the first time when you saw it.
03:21I haven't seen it.
03:22Absolutely.
03:22You haven't seen it yet?
03:23Absolutely.
03:23He hasn't.
03:24Oh, I've been seeing it at the premiere for the first time.
03:27It's interesting you say that because usually I can go home and sort of replay a scene a little bit in my head to kind of gauge how the work went that day.
03:35And you couldn't, I couldn't do that with this.
03:38Because the only thing I could recall was coming home having screamed the entire day.
03:44It was just like a bunch of, so I had no clue what we had done until actually having seen the film.
03:54I had a much clearer sense of what we had sort of accomplished.
03:58Do we have to get a sample from an egg?
04:00I suppose we could try and get it from the parent.
04:02But they're a flying carnival the size of an F-16.
04:04You were out there shooting in Thailand.
04:06So much like Spielberg was shooting in the jungle in Hawaii for the first one, you really get that sense of, like, texture with the storytelling because it's a real place that you're filming in.
04:15Jonathan Bailey's mentioned, like, shooting out there in the elements, there were, like, snakes swimming past the crew in the water.
04:21I mean, were there any moments like that for you guys where the adrenaline was real?
04:25Yeah, I mean, all of it's real.
04:28I mean, apart from, unfortunately, the dinosaurs.
04:30But the jungle, the swamp, the mangroves, the cliffs, this field behind us.
04:35Falling in the mangroves.
04:36Falling into the water.
04:38That happened to all of us.
04:38That happened except Scarlet.
04:40So you're constantly aware that this is a real environment.
04:43And you are kind of trespassing in another creature's world, hopefully with respect.
04:50And we didn't, you know, we had snake wranglers who would remove them.
04:53They were never killed.
04:54It was always, like, you know, very sort of as humane as possible.
04:57But I had that sense a lot that it was, like, the animals would be, like, you're in my backyard.
05:03No one's dumb enough to go where we're going.
05:05I mean, Jurassic Park is possibly the most iconic score of all time.
05:10And I'd love to know, like, what part music plays in your creative process.
05:14And were there any albums or scores that you listen to on set to get you in sort of in the mood?
05:20I personally always make a character playlist.
05:22And I think what it does is I think, like, a muscle memory thing where I develop a relationship with the playlist.
05:28And I think as soon as I get to work or if I'm in the trailer, the makeup trailer, if I put it on, it kind of helps drop me quickly into the world or the mindset of the character.
05:37For me, there was something about this sort of, frankly, very dangerous pursuit that my character leads everyone else on.
05:47And wondering what degree of kind of devil may care kind of risk at all would you?
05:55I mean, so if you were asking for a song, one of them would be Stone Free with Jimi Hendrix.
06:00Just this kind of, like, almost breakneck, we're nearly there, we're nearly there, we're nearly there, we'll just do it, just do it, just do it.
06:05Because I just thought there's no way, like, you know, Herschel's character has emotional grounding in having a family that he's, you know, has a relationship with.
06:14And I felt like my character didn't have anything like that and therefore could risk everything with impunity.
06:21There was no, there was no kind of love or child or partner or anything.
06:28So it was just this kind of, like, at all costs for whatever the reason.
