Getting the prehistoric gang back together! Bryce Dallas Howard is “thrilled” that original Jurassic Park stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum are joining her and Chris Pratt in Jurassic World 3 — especially because she doesn’t have to stay tight-lipped about the news anymore.
“That was painful!” the 38-year-old joked to Us Weekly and other reporters at the 2nd Annual Environmental Media Association Honors Benefit Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 28. “I don’t think I was very effective in keeping that secret. … I was like not effectively cagey about it, basically. People were like, ‘Is it happening?’ I’m like, ‘Mmm …’”
The news broke last week, with Deadline revealing that Dern, 52, and Neill, 72, would respectively return as scientists Dr. Ellie Sattler and Dr. Alan Grant for the first time since 2001’s Jurassic Park III, and Goldblum, 66, would reprise his role as mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm after briefly appearing in 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The trio have not shared the screen since 1993’s Jurassic Park, the film that kicked off the blockbuster franchise.
“I’m thrilled,” Howard said on Saturday. “Very, very, very, very, very excited. It feels really right and exhilarating because … these are the founders, essentially, of Jurassic Park, and so to have them join in now, it almost, in a way, legitimizes the last couple of movies and brings the whole narrative together.”
She continued: “Jeff Goldblum was in the last film. Just a total blast. I straight up, like, stalked Sam Neill a little bit. Like, I’ve gone to New Zealand and I found out where he lived and I maybe, like, drove past his property. I’m like, ‘That’s where he lives!’ … And then Laura is actually a friend and has been for quite a while.”
“It’s a good group,” the actress concluded. “Like, we are just all people that love running from dinosaurs. We’re going to do it together!”
Jurassic World 3, directed by Colin Trevorrow, will start production in 2020. A release date has not yet been announced.
With reporting by Emily Marcus
