‘Jurassic Park’: Steven Spielberg Wasn’t Sure Which Accent Sam Neill Should Use for Alan Grant

If you didn’t know, Sam Neill is a New Zealand actor who used an American accent as a member of the original cast of Jurassic Park. However, even he acknowledges that his accent could have been better. Neill admits that director Steven Spielberg also wasn’t sure which accent the actor should use while filming Jurassic Park. 

Sam Neill plays Dr. Alan Grant in the original cast of ‘Jurassic Park’

In the original Jurassic Park, Neill plays Dr. Alan Grant, a paleontologist who is contacted by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to do an assessment of his dinosaur park. Dr. Grant then flies to the island along with Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). 

Neill did reprise the role one more time in Jurassic Park III when he flies back to the island to save a marooned crew from certain death. Now, Neill is reuniting with Goldblum and Dern once more in Jurassic World Dominion where they are reprising their roles from the original. The classic crew is teaming up with newbies Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt after dinosaurs have now been unleashed on our world. 

Steven Spielberg switched up Sam Neill’s accent in ‘Jurassic Park’

In an original conversation with Vanity Fair, the original cast of Jurassic Park reflected on special moments from filming the original almost 30 years ago. Neill spoke about the American accent he used for the movie and how it received a lot of criticism. 

“I get a lot of flak to this day,” Neill said. “‘Sam Neill’s American accent in Jurassic Park was a load of T-Rex poo.’”

The actor then recalls a moment during filming where Steven Spielberg was also unsure about what accent Neill should speak with during Jurassic Park. He switched it multiple times. 

“On day one, and it was the day that we fried the kid on the electric fence,” Neill laughs. “[Spielberg] came up to me halfway through the day and he said ‘Hey Sam, you know the accent we were talking about,’ and I said, ‘Yeah. I’ve been working on it for four weeks or something.’ He said ‘Don’t worry about it. Just use your own voice.’ I said ‘That’s great, Steven. Thank you so much.’ And then four days later, he came up to me and said ‘You know that voice you’re using now.’ I said ‘Yeah, my voice.’ He said ‘Somewhere in between.’” 

Will ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ be the last movie in the franchise?

Jurassic World Dominion is the third movie in the Jurassic World trilogy and is being marketed as the concluding chapter. The return of the Jurassic Park cast suggests that everything is coming full circle. However, the first two Jurassic World movies have grossed over a billion dollars each and it is currently one of the most profitable franchises in Hollywood. 

While this specific story within the Jurassic Park universe may be coming to a close, that does not mean Universal won’t try and milk this franchise for everything it’s worth. Hollywood producers are more often worried about whether they could, instead of whether they should. 

Jurassic World Dominion arrives in theaters on June 10, 2022.