Jurassic Park III (2001)

The filmmakers then moved to Universal Studios sound stages for 96 days. Perhaps most notable among production designer Ed Verreaux's sets was the jungle rain forest, which filled Stage 12, one of the largest stages in the world. Verreaux and seasoned greensman Danny Ondrejko (Jurassic Park, Congo) fabricated a spectacular jungle that looked and smelled like a tropical forest. With mist and fog piped in by Lantieri's technicians, they replicated the humidity that soaked the crew during the Hawaiian portion of filming — but not the mosquitoes and four- inch poisonous centipedes that thrive in the Hawaiian jungles. Ondrejko and his 14-member crew spent two months dressing Stage 12's jungle terrain.

Johnston was thrilled with the results. "The first time I looked at the movie, there were moments I had to stop and think, 'Is that Hawaii or is that Stage 12?' Because it intercuts so seamlessly."

According to Verreaux, movie sets are typically designed and built first, with other departmental craftsmen adapting their needs to existing sets. For Jurassic Park III, however, he had to design his sets (particularly Stage 12's dense jungle) around Winston's animatronic behemoths. "The Spinosaurus worked like a large locomotive on a big track where he could move back and forth for different camera positions.

"We thought of this dinosaur as a large steam engine with a big backhoe on the front of it that could pull two or three Gs on the neck," he continued. "This thing could easily tip itself over if it wasn't engineered properly. We had to take all of this into consideration and build our set around what Stan's creature could do."

Verreaux's creations on the backlot were even more astonishing. Universal's Falls Lake location normally contains a blue-sky backdrop similar to a drive-in movie screen, which can give the illusion of an endless horizon. Verreaux built a giant rock wall over the backdrop that would double for two separate island locations — InGen's aviary and the decaying InGen marina. His crew spent three months laying tons of foam blocks that were hand-molded into jagged rock faces. Then the grip department erected a ten-story, three-sided scaffold and covered it with netting to simulate the aviary where Hammond's diabolical creatures fly freely.

After that two-day shoot in early December, the set was redressed for a night exterior sequence where the dinosaur attacks Grant's boat. This massive scene took nine nights to complete, with the actors, both human and animatronic, battling fire and rain. The preparation was just as intense. "We're dealing with equipment used to build bridges and highways," said Kennedy. "It's an incredible amount of work. But we wanted a movie even more exciting than the first two."

---

Pages: 1 [2]