Steven Spielberg is one of the most legendary filmmakers of all time, having given blockbusters across several decades. One of the most beloved films in Spielberg’s filmography is the 1993 sci-fi film Jurassic Park, which was a major box office success and spawned a franchise that is still going strong even today.

A still from the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park (Credit: Universal Pictures).

The film gave viewers one of the most realistic looks at dinosaurs and captivated audiences with its stunning visual effects. While the film proved to be a landmark in terms of advancing CGI, the filmmaker’s original plans involved heavy use of practical effects. As a result, the film would’ve turned out even more terrifying, and here is why that did not happen.

Steven Spielberg replaced plans to use practical effects for Jurassic Park

Steven Spielberg directed 1993’s Jurassic Park, one of the biggest blockbusters of its time, grossing $1.058 billion globally (via The Numbers). The film became noted for its use of CGI to create the dinosaurs, which were certainly the factor that drew viewers to theaters.

Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg (Credit: Time | YouTube).

During an interview, visual effects supervisor Phil Tippett opened up about working with the acclaimed director on the 1993 movie. He was originally approached to use go-motion animation to craft some of the dinosaur sequences. However, he was later informed that the sequences would be created using CGI.

I’ve just become extinct.

Tippett made the above comment (via The Hollywood Reporter), revealing his surprise at Spielberg’s intention to use CGI over practical effects.

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According to reports (via Flickering Myth), Spielberg initially planned to use animatronics and go-motion for the wide shots and other practical effects to keep the dinosaur sequences realistic. However, his plans changed after seeing test footage created by Dennis Muren.

Steven Spielberg’s vision for Jurassic Park made sense to rely on practical effects

After Spielberg’s original plans to rely heavily on practical effects changes, the film eventually delivered some of the most breathtaking CGI sequences of its time, making Jurassic Park not only a blockbuster but a cinematic milestone.

The CGI T-Rex in Jurassic Park (Credit: Universal Pictures).

However, the effects were only good because the director remained true to his original vision.

I’m going for total realism as opposed to anything that hypes the wonder. There are no lights around my dinosaurs, they’re in the flesh.

Spielberg stated the above in a quote given to Empire, where he exclaimed his vision to capture the dinosaurs as realistically as possible.

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Hence, the filmmaker’s original plan to rely heavily on practical effects makes complete sense. However, during the development process, Spielberg realized a better sense of realism could be achieved with CGI. However, it is still interesting to wonder what Spielberg’s take would’ve looked like with more practical effects, as it would’ve been truly terrifying in more than one sense.

Jurassic Park is streaming on Hulu.
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