Jurassic Park's Age Gap Between Ellie & Alan Was Inappropriate, Says Dern

Ellie Sattler actor Laura Dern calls the age gap between her character and Alan Grant (Sam Neill) in the original Jurassic Park movie inappropriate.

Summary

• Laura Dern reflects on the significant age gap between her character Ellie and Alan in Jurassic Park, calling it "completely inappropriate".
• The age difference between the actors wasn't something that occurred to Dern until she saw an article about it, highlighting the cultural awareness around patriarchal dynamics.
• Although Alan and Ellie's romance is rekindled in Jurassic World: Dominion, Dern's comment reminds us that the age gap in their relationship had a problematic beginning.

Laura Dern says the significant age gap between Dr. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park was inappropriate. First released in 1993, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park quickly became a massive hit as audiences flocked to see dinosaurs come to life on the big screen like never before. However, while the dinosaurs were the movie's big appeal, it was the characters that audiences fell in love with. The film follows paleontologists Ellie (Dern) and Alan (Sam Neill) as they tour a state-of-the-art dinosaur theme park, which quickly devolves into a nightmarish struggle to survive after some of the dinosaurs escape their enclosures.

Dern didn't appear in 1997's The Lost World: Jurassic Park but did appear in a somewhat minimal role in the third film, Jurassic Park III. In the first film, Ellie and Alan were engaged in a romantic relationship, but the two characters disagreed on whether or not to have children. Ellie and Alan were no longer together and Ellie was married with children in Jurassic Park 3, although the two characters remained on friendly terms. However, Dern reprised her role once more in 2022's Jurassic World: Dominion alongside original Jurassic Park co-stars Neill and Jeff Goldblum, which continues the "will they, won't they" Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler relationship.

What Laura Dern Had To Say About Ellie And Alan's Age Gap

In an interview with The Times, Dern reflects on her role in the original Jurassic Park, in particular the significant age gap between her and Neill. Dern was 23 during the filming of Jurassic Park while Neill was a full 20 years older, with Dern pointing out the notable discrepancy after Neill says, "I am 20 years older than Laura!" Although Jurassic Park remains one of the most important and beloved movies of all time, it's clear that not everything about Jurassic Park has aged well. Dern said:

Which at the time was a completely appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady! It never occurred to me until I opened a magazine and there was an article called ‘Old geezers and gals... Well, it felt completely appropriate to fall in love with Sam Neill. And it was only now, when we returned in a moment of cultural awareness about the patriarchy, that I was, like, ‘Wow! We’re not the same age?’ [...] Our age gap in Jurassic Park was completely inappropriate.

Ellie is described in the original Jurassic Park script as being in her late 20s and Alan in his mid-30s, but the age difference between the actual actors who would play the parts was far more significant. The movie doesn't outright say how old Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler are, but Ellie is clearly noticeably younger than Alan. Having been released in 1993, during a time when less attention was paid to problematic dynamics between men and women in film, it's possible that the film's producers didn't realize (or didn't care) that the age gap was inappropriate.

Alan And Ellie Rekindled Their Romance In Dominion Despite The Age Gap

One of the biggest selling points for Jurassic World: Dominion was the return of the original characters, as Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, along with Dr. Ian Malcolm, join the new cast to stop the dinosaurs. Jurassic World: Dominion gives fans what they want too, as Ellie is divorced, which leads to Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler rekindling their relationship, and they go on to live happily ever after together. The 2022 movie was hugely criticized and has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of any movie in the Jurassic franchise, but the portrayal of the two characters was one of the movie's biggest payoffs.

Dern and Neill's ages were 55 and 74 at the time of Jurassic World: Dominion's release, which makes the age gap feel less jarring compared to 1993, as Dern was almost 30 years older than the original Jurassic Park. However, while it wouldn't be much of a problem if the two characters met for the first time in the 2022 movie, and though it marked a satisfying ending for the characters, the Alan Grant and Ellis Sattler relationship still had a problematic beginning. Dern's comment serves as an important reminder that even movies as beloved as Jurassic Park can contain elements that wouldn't fly if the movie had been made today.

Key Release Dates

• Jurassic World Dominion

  Release Date: 2022-06-10