The bizarre sexual truth behind Steven Spielberg’s dinosaurs in ‘Jurassic Park’
Few directors are as intrinsically connected with the art of cinema as Steven Spielberg. While “filmmaker” is the easiest way to describe Spielberg, the truth is, he is far more easily described as a “cinema creator”. Making movies is an art, but Spielberg’s stories have always been built with the big screen and a waiting audience in mind. This ability to create cinematic productions has launched him into an unassailable position as perhaps the greatest director the movie business has ever known.
One of Steven Spielberg’s most ambitious projects, this 1993 sci-fi action thriller had a seminal impact on the discourse of popular culture during the 1990s. Jurassic Park is Spielberg’s unforgettable attempt to illustrate how dangerous it is to mess with the natural order. The film documents the disastrous consequences of bringing dinosaurs back to life in order to amplify the machinations of commercialism.
“I really believe that when I read Michael Crichton’s book, I flashed back to Jaws and I flashed back to Duel… I’d wanted to make a dinosaur picture all my life because I was a huge fan of Ray Harryhausen,” Spielberg admitted. As he always has done, when Spielberg got an idea, he jumped into action and began trying to get his picture made. “Jurassic Park was the first movie where the entire success or failure of the story was dependent on these digital characters.”
A major reason for Jurassic Park‘s unprecedented success was its efficient use of special effects, ranging from computer software that animated the dinosaurs as if they were stop-motion puppets to a great sound design. It was a landmark moment that would change the way directors approached such practices. Spielberg wanted this to be the first film with digital sound, funding the development of the Digital Theatre System. In addition, the sound effects team worked under the supervision of George Lucas.
Throughout the film, a significant part is played by the velociraptors, who assert their terrifying presence on the screen as well as in the minds of the audience. Their on-screen depiction is unique, evoking fear even though their design deviated from the physical characteristics of the genus in question. Discoveries that were made after the release of Jurassic Park led experts to believe that dinosaurs from this specific genetic family were probably covered in feathers, a fact that was taken into account in the sequels.
The sound crew went to great lengths to get the sound of the velociraptors just right. According to sound designer Gary Rydstrom, a mixture of various animal sounds was formulated to simulate the hypothesised vocal features of a velociraptor. Those individual soundbites included the hissing of geese, the bellowing of walruses, dolphin screams, bird mating calls, and even human voices. However, one of the sources of the sounds definitely stands out: tortoise sex!
“It’s somewhat embarrassing, but when the raptors bark at each other to communicate, it’s a tortoise having sex,” Rydstrom explained. Sound effects teams have always been experimental when trying to find the exact sound they needed. More often than not, the sound you hear attached to a horse or cow doesn’t actually come from the animal. It’s difficult enough when the team knows exactly what the animal sounds like, but for the velociraptors, they were dumbfounded until they heard a tortoise enjoying themselves.
“It’s a mating tortoise,” Rydstrom added. “I recorded that at Marine World…the people there said, ‘Would you like to record these two tortoises that are mating?’ It sounded like a joke, because tortoises mating can take a long time. You’ve got to have plenty of time to sit around and watch and record them.”
Rydstrom continued: “The bark that (the velociraptor) makes. When it comes in the kitchen and it barks. ‘Arp! Arp!’ That’s the sound of a tortoise that is mating. The male tortoise would go up, and then fall off, and then go back again. It’s riding on the back of the female tortoise. So it’s climbing up her shell basically, and then it falls off. It’s a little sexual.”
