James Cameron Almost Made ‘Jurassic Park’ Much Scarier: “It Would Have Been ‘Aliens’ with Dinosaurs”
Thirty years after Steven Spielberg welcomed the world into Jurassic Park, the franchise continues to capture the imagination of audiences of all ages everywhere. But did you know that James Cameron (The Terminator) almost made an R-rated version of the film… one he planned to make absolutely terrifying?
Could you imagine? After the genre bona fides he’s demonstrated with films like Aliens and The Abyss, there’s little doubt his take on Jurassic Park would have been something to remember. We’ll never know, but Cameron has shared a little about what his take on the blockbuster classic might have looked like.
For the latest issue of Empire, the legendary filmmaker answered questions from readers. Within those answers, he spoke about his Jurassic Park film that nearly happened. “[Steven Spielberg] was the right guy to make it. Not me, because I would have made it too terrifying and R-rated. It would have been Aliens with dinosaurs.”
Surprising as those comments may be, this isn’t the first time the filmmaker has spoken about what he would’ve done with his version of the beloved classic.
During an interview with the Huffington Post back in 2012, Cameron told the outlet, “When I saw the film, I realized that I was not the right person to make the film, he [Spielberg] was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been Aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn’t have been fair.”
Cameron added, “Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film, I’d have gone further, nastier, much nastier.”
We can probably all agree that Spielberg was the better choice for Jurassic Park. Like Cameron says, Spielberg made a dinosaur movie for everyone, while Cameron would’ve delivered something more akin to Dino Crisis.
To this day, though, the horror fan in me wishes I could visit the universe where Cameron directed the adaptation based on Michael Crichton’s novel. After all, the book packs a much scarier punch than the film. You could argue Cameron would’ve delivered a movie closer to the tone of the novel. Still, Spielberg’s version offers plenty of great scares. So much so that the film even scared my wife away from wanting to become a paleontologist!
What do you prefer? Are you glad we got Spielberg’s take on Jurassic Park, or would you have rather seen what Cameron had to deliver? Let us know in the comments below!
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