Sam Neill takes another walk in the `Park' 

07/11/2001 
BPI Entertainment News Wire 
(c) Copyright 2001 BPI Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 
BPI Entertainment News Wire Feature (1,200) release at will By ANGELA DAWSON
Entertainment News Wire

LOS ANGELES -- During a break from shooting "Jurassic Park III" on the Universal
Studios back lot, Sam Neill and a couple of his co-stars sneaked over to
Jurassic Park: The Ride, a popular attraction at the studio's theme park.
 
"We all had the fake blood on us and were in wardrobe, covered in dirt and
stuff, but no one on the ride even blinked at us," recalls the New Zealand-based
actor. Even the ride's operators didn't seem to recognize the actors, ordering
them to line up with the rest of the crowd.
Could it be that folks in Hollywood -- even tourists -- have become jaded about
seeing movie stars? More likely, Neill and his co-stars simply blended in with
the dozens of other fans dressed up as their favorite "Jurassic Park"
characters.

Regardless, the dark, ruggedly handsome 53-year-old actor found the episode
almost as enjoyable as making the latest installment of the dinosaur movie
series. The previous films have rung up more than $1 billion in box-office
receipts worldwide, making "Jurassic Park" one of the most successful movie
franchises of all time.

After sitting out the sequel "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," Neill reprises his
role as Dr. Alan Grant, the dedicated paleontologist who narrowly escaped the
prehistoric jaws of death in the 1993 original. (The character was not directly
involved in the plot of author/creator Michael Crichton's second book.) Unlike
its predecessors, the $100 million "Jurassic Park III" isn't adapted from a
Crichton book but based on characters from the best sellers.

In the first film Grant and several other scientists accepted an invitation from
a quirky industrialist to visit a theme park on a remote Caribbean island
inhabited by genetically engineered dinosaurs. Of course, things got out of hand
when the cloned velociraptors, T-rexes and other prehistoric creatures broke out
of their enclosures and started tearing up the compound and attacking the
humans.

Flash forward eight years. Though shaken by the incident, Grant remains
committed to studying dinosaurs, albeit from the safety and comfort of his
university research lab. That is, until he is tricked into guiding a small
expedition to an abandoned dinosaur research facility on another island
inhabited by the reanimated creatures. Donning Indiana Jones-type gear, Grant
finds himself once again trying to save his party from hungry, carnivorous
raptors, including a meaner and toothier specimen known as the spinosaurus.

"Jurassic Park III" co-stars Ta Leoni, William H. Macy, Alessandro Nivola,
Michael Jeter and Trevor Morgan. Laura Dern, the only other "Jurassic Park"
holdover, has a cameo.

Neill, a versatile and busy actor, says he agreed to reprise the Grant role
because he saw a rare opportunity to develop it further. "I don't think I'd done
it well enough the first time around," the reserved actor admits. "I think I got
it right this time. It's more consistent, better rounded and more interesting."

He dismisses a suggestion that he returned for the T-rex-size paycheck, a
reported $4 million. "I'm certainly not in it for the money," he says with a
laugh. "But the money is good, to be honest. I couldn't earn the sort of money
that I do sorting mail or making wine. But I just couldn't do it for the money.
That would be very disheartening, and I've turned down quite a number of jobs
for which the money was great in favor of jobs where there wasn't much money,
because those jobs interested me."

Neill says executive producer Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two
"Jurassic Park" movies, and producer Kathleen Kennedy were very persuasive.
"They told me that it would be bigger and better than what had gone before,"
Neill says. "I'm inclined to agree with that."

The Northern Ireland-born actor recognizes that big-screen dinosaurs don't have
the same novelty value they did when the original film came out. But he marvels
at the technological advances that have since been made in both
computer-animated dinosaurs and in the robotic creatures used for close-ups.

Animatronic reptiles were designed by Oscar-winner Stan Winston, who created the
dinosaurs for all three "Jurassic Park" films. "When the (technicians) fire them
all up, they come alive and you really feel you're working with intelligent
beings," says Neill. "They come up and nuzzle your neck, steal pages of your
script and things like that."

Neill's role was physically demanding. Director Joe Johnston, a Spielberg protg,
"warned me in a rather ominous way that this would be the most physical thing
that I've ever done," says Neill. "In that he wasn't wrong." Fortunately, Neill
was in good shape. "Better than I'd been in before or since," he says with a
laugh, his blue eyes twinkling.

Co-star Ta Leoni, on the other hand, admits she wasn't physically prepared
before starting production last fall. "I was not in shape at the beginning of
this movie, which was a stupid move on my part," says the blond actress. "I
could have hit the gym a little bit. I didn't and I suffered for it. I was sore
and it sucked. Then I actually got in shape while making the movie."

With dinosaurs outnumbering humans about 10 to 1, the cast mates became close.
While shooting part of the film in Hawaii, Neill would entertain the cast with
his ukulele during breaks.

Should "Jurassic Park III" prove as successful as its predecessors with
moviegoers, Neill may return for another go. But he can't imagine what it will
take to convince his character to return to a dinosaur-inhabited island. Still,
he says Grant has a "love-hate relationship with dinosaurs" that could lead him
back for another visit. "There is a ghastly fascination he has for them," the
actor says with a chuckle.

Grant gives a little speech during the film about how scientists can either be
like astronauts or astronomers. The former set out into space to discover other
worlds while the latter study the stars from afar. Asked whether he views acting
the same way, Neill thinks for a time then responds, "It doesn't apply to actors
because we're free of constraints."

Indeed, Neill, who started out as a stage actor, has remained free of
constraints in his choices of roles. In 1993, the year he starred in "Jurassic
Park," he also starred in "The Piano," a drama which won the prestigious Palm
D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. His movie credits include "My Brilliant
Career," "The Final Conflict," "Bicentennial Man," "The Horse Whisperer,"
"Sirens," "Children of the Revolution" and "Restoration," to name a few. He
recently starred in "The Zookeeper" and the Australian comedy "The Dish."

Today, the married father of three spends his free time running a winery in his
beloved New Zealand, producing a Pinot Noir called Two Paddocks. "We just picked
the fourth vintage," he says proudly. "The fifth is on the way."

Neill thinks it's unlikely any dinosaur bones are buried under his vineyards.
Climate and geography make it doubtful that such creatures ever roamed New
Zealand. But he'd be the first in line to see a real dinosaur if scientists were
ever capable of re-creating one. "There's not one person in the world who
wouldn't want to see a dinosaur," he says.