Interview: Bryce Dallas Howard on 'Jurassic World'.

June 30, 2015 | by Shahlin Graves

Bryce Dallas Howard stars as operations manager Claire in 'Jurassic World', and Coup De Main was lucky enough to have a face-to-face chat with Bryce recently about her co-star Chris Pratt and some important dinosaurs...

"Girls can do anything, for sure. Even running in the mud in heels."

COUP DE MAIN: You were 12-years-old when the first 'Jurassic Park' film was released... If 12-year-old Bryce Dallas Howard were to have been told that one day she’d be in 'Jurassic World', how would she have reacted?
BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD: <laughs> Do you remember that moment in 'Jurassic Park' where Laura Dern sees dinosaurs for the first time and she stands up in the Jeep and her jaw totally drops? That's exactly what I would have felt like if I had heard that. And that's not so different from what I actually felt like in reality when the 33-year-old version of me was told I was going to be in 'Jurassic World'. First of all I just think it's awesome that this franchise is coming alive again and that we're revisiting this mythology that Michael Crichton created. So as a fan, I'm stoked that there is a 'Jurassic World', and then just on a personal level it means so much to me to get to be a part of this - especially with the group who made this film. Steven Spielberg executive-produced it and Colin Trevorrow the director is just one of the greatest guys on Planet Earth and I have nothing nice to say about Chris Pratt, of course. <laughs> He's probably the greatest hero of our time in real life, honestly. It's been a dream on multiple levels.

CDM: This is the first film in the series to feature an open and fully functional dinosaur theme-park. Does that create a different environment for your character Claire Dearing - the Park Operations Manager - compared to past films?
BRYCE: Yeah. What's great about 'Jurassic World' is that it's really John Hammond's dream come to life. So it's a fully functional, fully operational theme-park essentially, with 20,000 visitors a day - and so far, nothing has happened. While it is the 'Jurassic Park' world and that all feels very familiar, it's what one would imagine a version of 'Jurassic Park' would be like today. For instance, my character Claire, she's the operational manager of the entire park and she's very corporate. Even my character's attire reflects that. Whereas in the past, when you saw all the characters in 'Jurassic Park' they all dressed in high-waisted khakis. It's the same world, but a different world. It's a more evolved story... it's a more evolved version of what would happen if this park was true and what would happen if this park came to life and if the people owned the park were saddled with the responsibilities of making a profit and existing in the world and creating new attractions. That's sort of the "What if?" question of this film. I think it's going to be pretty exciting for people to see it all come to life.

CDM: The Indominus Rex is obviously the big star of everything. On a scale of one to ten, how scary is it?
BRYCE: Something that is really cool about this movie is that there are all the dinosaurs that we have come to love from previous incarnations of the 'Jurassic Park' franchise - those dinosaurs that blew our minds when we first saw them and we were like, 'Oh man, there's maybe a real dinosaur that they maybe filmed somehow,' because it looked so real. What has occurred in this story is that there are new dinosaurs. Dr. Wu, beloved character from the original films and obviously from the books - played by B.D. Wong - has been up to quite a lot and he's been experimenting with gene-splicing. As a result, there are some dinosaurs that have been cross-bred. And so, there's a dinosaur in this film who basically terrorises all of us and is the result of this gene-splicing. It's pretty much your worst nightmares come to life. So on a scale of one to ten of how frightening this dinosaur in 'Jurassic World' is, like my eight-year-old son would say, it's a million-bajillion-quadrillion. It's a really, really scary dinosaur.

CDM: If an Indominus Rex appeared in this room right now, what would be your survival game-plan?
BRYCE: I would probably... this is so sad to say, but if that dinosaur came into the room right now I would probably just close my eyes and give up and just pass on to the next realm, because there's no way that I would survive! It is a fearsome creature, that's for sure. This is something that's kind of funny, on YouTube there's all these videos that you can see of people being pranked essentially, where someone is in a really realistic looking dinosaur suit of sorts and there will be a guy in a hallway or whatever - there's this one particular video of this guy in a hallway and the dinosaur just comes around the corner and this guy just loses his mind! There was another one where these same sort of dinosaur creations went into a school - which I thought was entirely irresponsible - and the kids were just freaking out. Then after a certain point, they realised that it was obviously a joke. You can sort of see what would happen if a dinosaur came into a modern setting, and that is what this film and that’s what 'Jurassic Park' is about - what would happen if these creatures from our Earth's past were here today, and how would that work out? Usually, not so well. <laughs>

CDM: There’s 18 different dinosaurs living at Jurassic World. Do you have a favourite?
BRYCE: I'm partial to the Brachiosaurus because I love how big they are and also I love how gentle they seem. I'm a huge fan of the animated film 'The Land Before Time' and that was one of my favourite animated films when I was growing up. I actually named my dog Little Foot after the main character who was a Brachiosaurus. So if I could have a pet, it would probably be a Brachiosaurus for sure.

CDM: Lately, Chris Pratt seems to be saving the world on a yearly basis. In a for reals life or death situation, would you trust Christ Pratt to save you?
BRYCE: I would trust Chris Pratt to save my life in any circumstance! I've actually ensured that this happens, because I've asked him - point blank asked him. I said, "If there is an apocalyptic scenario that happens upon Los Angeles, would it be okay if I headed over to your house?" And he said it would be fine. For real, he's kind of like a wilderness dude - you could drop Chris Pratt anywhere in the world and he could survive forever and probably thrive to be honest. He knows his way around any sort of situation and could surely save my life. He's also just really tall and strong. He's clever. What a dude! What a man. What a hero.

CDM: What was your favourite thing about working with Chris?
BRYCE: To be perfectly honest, Christ Pratt is one of the greatest human beings I've ever met in my entire life. He really is. Everything about him was my favourite thing. I also really love how tall he is, 'cuz I'm kind of a tall girl and often times when I'm doing a movie I need to slouch, but I could stand tall and proud next to Chris Pratt. I think he's like 6'3'' or something. He's huge!

CDM: Do you have a favourite memory from filming 'Jurassic World'?
BRYCE: I think my favourite memory from filming 'Jurassic World' would just be a compilation of me running through the jungle in heels, and just how absurd that really was. That that actually happened.

CDM: Was that hard to do? It sounds exhausting.
BRYCE: That is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life, running through the jungle in heels. Because also, mud was often times three feet deep, and that was full on for sure. Chris was so cool and he's a very athletic dude, and he was also being very supportive of these dorky little ankle exercises that I would do before we would run because I didn't want to twist an ankle or anything. He would join me in that process. That's something that I will treasure forever, especially the fact that I probably don't ever have to do it again.

CDM: Girl power! Girls can do anything.
BRYCE: Exactly! <laughs> Girls can do anything, for sure. Even running in the mud in heels.