Jurassic Park's Cast

You know, Jurassic Park, for being the big hit that it was didn’t have any huge stars in it.  I can’t imagine that Jeff Goldblum was still very popular from The Fly remake ‘cause that was seven years earlier.  Samuel L. Jackson didn’t hit the real big time ‘till he did Pulp Fiction a year later.  I mean if you were a huge fan of Juice which came out a year earlier or even Menace II Society which came out a couple of weeks earlier then I guess you got something but how many people who are big fans of those movies would also be interested in Jurassic Park?  If you think about it people must have been intrigued by the premise and not influenced too much by the actors involved.  Or I guess they could’ve just wanted to see Spielberg’s next gigantic summer blockbuster. 

But I mean who the fuck is Sam Neil and Bob Peck?  If you’re a David Lynch enthusiast then you would know Laura Dern from Wild at Heart three years earlier or Blue Velvet seven years prior.  But again, how many people are into both Lynch and Spielberg?  And I’m not saying that you can’t be into both directors or that you can’t like different kinds of movies but they’re not really similar.  I just don’t think there are a ton of people that diversify their movie going experience a whole lot.  But that’s just my opinion. 

Lastly, if there were any film buffs that saw ads or trailers for Jurassic Park then they would probably know Richard Attenborough’s name (he directed A Bridge Too Far, Gandhi and Chaplin and also starred in The Great Escape).  And oddly enough Wayne Knight was probably just as recognizable as anyone else in this because of Seinfeld.  The show hadn’t quite taken off yet but his face was still appearing on a prime time television show.  My man B.D. Wong's biggest claim to fame at the time was playing Martin Short’s assistant in Father of the Bride.  He hadn’t yet taken on the role of Father Ray Mukada on Oz.  What I’m really trying to say is that this movie was extremely successful on a motley crew of actors and I think it all worked out pretty well. 

Another kinda strange but interesting thing is that Spielberg did Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in the same year.  The subject matter couldn’t be farther apart but I think those are two of his best films.