Jurassic World: Dominion star Laura Dern on the creative, cinematic, and cultural changes sparked by the franchise

It’s hard to overstate how much of a steadying presence Laura Dern has provided onscreen over the last four decades. From her earliest successes in films like Smooth Talk and Blue Velvet to Emmy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award wins for Big Little Lies and Marriage Story, Dern has repeatedly demonstrated she can do just about anything a role requires, and that she can deliver an inspiring panorama of female strength and complexity.

Since 1993, Dern has played Dr. Ellie Sattler in the Jurassic Park series, providing a conscience opposite the scientific know-how of Sam Neill’s Alan Grant and the extroverted philosophizing of Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm. The three reunite in Jurassic World: Dominion, a conclusion to the franchise’s questions about limitless technological possibility, corporate greed, and the environmental toll exerted when those are exercised without restraint. Dern recently spoke to The A.V. Club about her return to the role of Sattler, as well as pivotal moments in her Jurassic history, the cultural and cinematic changes she’s witnessed since Steven Spielberg’s groundbreaking original film, and her unique pedigree as an actor that makes audiences take her seriously, even (or especially) in stories where some of the other characters may not.

Laura Dern: Oh, I’m so happy to be here and talk about Ellie Sattler and Jurassic World and this amazing adventure we’ve gotten to be part of all these years.

AVC: Is this the longest you’ve gone when it comes to revisiting a character?

LD: For sure, and a character I never imagined returning to, to be honest. In 1993, the franchise, there wasn’t a commonality to it, so you would never consider that. And to work with Steven Spielberg was such a dream, to work on the first CGI film, to be around John Williams as he created a score that’s indelible for us, and to watch Stan Winston’s mastery in animatronics, all of that was an amazing part of my journey—as a film lover, as an actor, in my interaction with fans all these years. But if my character was going to come back these many years later especially, we really all took it seriously to think about the evolution of who she would be today. And that was very important to me, as Steven Spielberg knew, as Frank Marshall knew and, of course, was deeply important to Colin as he was shaping this story to bring these characters together. In our first conversation, he wanted me to know he wasn’t interested in a cameo. It was, would you come back to all be equals together in telling this larger story and in telling Claire and Owen’s story simultaneously and Alan and Ellie’s story as sort of pairing each other in these worlds.

But also, the environmental messaging in this franchise that is seamless and has been there since Michael Crichton’s book and the question of corporate greed, all of that is a deep part of the Jurassic films. And where Ellie would be now in her activism and feminism and as a scientist was really important to me. And I’m so grateful to Colin that he took that so seriously that we worked together for her to be working in the area of soil science and focused on climate change in hopes that the next generation of Jurassic lovers and dinosaur lovers can continue deep conversations around how we are going to peacefully co-exist and how we are going to prevent another extinction and take care of our home. And that feels true to who Dr. Sattler is. And it felt really amazing to get to be part of that storyline.

AVC: Looking at the three of you on screen, I couldn’t help but think about how Grant is like the science or the intellect, Malcolm is sort of the philosopher, and Ellie really feels like the conscience of these movies. How has her role evolved over the course of the franchise?

LD: Well, I love how you described it and the three characters, that was so beautiful. And I think you’re so right. And I think one thing that I so loved in our efforts in the first film was for this female character to be an equal to the male characters in her scientific approach and in her humanity was Steven and I loved getting to collaborate with him on a moment that means a lot to me in the film, which is at the end of getting the power back on and the raptor sequence where Ellie’s like, “You boys take it easy. I’m going to go save us. We’ll discuss sexism and survival situations when I get back.” But she has this sequence and at the end of it, in her fearless, adrenalized state, she’s humanly heroic. But when it ends and I collapse, Steve and I really discussed what would a human being feel at the end of this, and decided it was really important that she just fall apart, weeping and shaky, having survived this beast and seen trauma and death and a lot of horror in that scene.

I loved that. I love that it didn’t need to be some larger than life anti-heroine in order to conquer the, like, sexy scientist trope. She’s a human being, and she’s real. And she’s vulnerable. And she’s powerful and she’s fearless and she’s a feminist. And she can say irreverent lines—all of that. She’s practical. There’s no nonsense. I wore no makeup in this movie, and I was the female lead of a giant movie. That’s already pretty unusual, at that time particularly. So all of that, I think, is embedded in the fabric of the origin story of this franchise. And I’m so honored to be back, have it stay true to who she was. And to see that character be joined by Bryce Dallas Howard’s character, and now DeWanda Wise’s character, it feels really cool, I have to say.

AVC: As you said yourself, Spielberg was so skilled in eliciting wonder. At the time of the first film, seeing dinosaurs on screen in the way that he created them was virtually unprecedented. Three decades later, what is that experience like? Has it become part of the DNA of actors, to understand that there are elements of CGI?

LD: I remember actors, many friends of mine, asking me, “How did you do that? Wait, nothing was there?” Now, all of those actors have worked in the world of CGI and visual effects, so it’s amazing that now it’s just a part of cinema. But it really was the first time, and. And we were inventing it, along with the genius of ILM and Dennis Muren on set. So now on this film, there was more ease to it for all of us. We’re used to it as moviegoers, so our imagination can go there. Whereas on the first film, we didn’t understand it. We didn’t understand the idea that you could paint something into the frame. But with the advancement of technology in the area of animatronics, the mastery of Stan Winston and his team was extraordinary.

Because of the advancement in tech and where we are at with computer science, I can be staring at still a radical practical raptor or Giganotosaurus, for that matter. But I can also, because of the mastery of a technician whose job it is to design an eye, he can, while I’m acting with that dinosaur this close to me, have the pupil dilate. And it’s a terrifying thing to see the eyes acting with you. How it glances and how it catches your eye, there’s no acting required. It’s so amazing. So I was a bit giddy at just seeing the genius as there has been such advancement in some of these areas.

AVC: You’ve carved out a successful niche as an authority figure who people don’t heed until it’s too late, whether it’s the Jurassic and Star Wars franchises or numerous other roles. Once you play one of those roles, do people seek you out for them again? Is it part of it just getting older as an actor? Or, to some extent, is it just the unfortunate burden of being a woman?

LD: I think it’s all of those things. I remember a journalist saying to me, I made Noah Baumbach’s film Marriage Story, and the journalist was like, “What’s going on with your choices? You did Big Little Lies where you play this powerful CEO of tech, and now you’re playing this powerful divorce attorney. Is that just something that’s exciting you right now?” And I said, no, those weren’t parts 15 years ago. I mean, they are writing those roles now. And that’s what’s amazing, seeing gender equity in different workplace environments has offered actors the opportunity to play extraordinary characters.

Even though Eleanor Roosevelt was doing a pretty good job running this country alongside her partner, the president, you didn’t see those characters in movies as much. And Ellie Sattler was a huge opportunity for me to, as a 23-year-old actress, have a voice in shaping a character that hopefully would be influential. And as you beautifully described, her power, but also a little bit like, “Guys I told you,” especially maybe for Vice Admiral Holdo. I’m telling them, they weren’t listening, so now I’ve got to save everybody—and it doesn’t work out as well for me, but that’s okay. I’m going to save everybody. So, what a gift, and what a gift to the amazing filmmakers, writer-directors, who’ve given me those opportunities in ways that my mother’s generation didn’t have as much of. So I think it’s all the things you ascribe it to—who your collaborators are, how the industry is shifting, how culture is shifting. And with time and experience and opportunity and playing lots of different characters, just more opportunity and more diversity in characters.

AVC: You’ve enjoyed such a marvelously varied career. Wild At Heart is one of my all-time favorite movies and I’ve loved watching you films like Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. Because you were able to prove your versatility so early on, do people look at you and go, “Well, we can put her in anything and she’ll do a great job?”

LD: Aww, I don’t know. I mean, I hope the directors I’m so privileged to work with feel that way because I want to work with David Lynch for the rest of my life, and Steven Spielberg, and Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig. These people have become like dear friends to me, and we create a family and keep working together. That’s been such a pleasure and honor. But I think as film breaks ground, and as all of us realize our human vulnerabilities, we start to long for films where we don’t need heroic protagonists, and that flawed protagonists are more interesting—even when they have to wake up to becoming heroic, as I think this franchise does with characters. And certainly in the world of David and other directors you’ve talked about and films you’ve mentioned, those flawed protagonists are delicious adventures for actors. So I’ve been lucky and I hope to keep having those kinds of opportunities for the rest of my life. And it takes great, good fortune, beautiful filmmakers opening their doors to you, and culture being open to seeing ourselves deeply and truly with all our flaws, and hopefully having compassion for each other as opposed to just needing good guys and bad guys.