In a new interview with Empire Magazine, director Colin Trevorrow discusses his upcoming film Jurassic Park: Dominion. The third and final chapter in the Jurassic World series is set to hit theaters in June, with returning stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard alongside Jurassic Park alumni Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. In the interview, Trevorrow teased the new Big Bad dinosaur on the block: the Giganotosaurus, aka the Giga. Unlike previous genetically engineered dinosaurs like the Indominus Rex and the Indoraptor, the Giga is a real dinosaur that existed during the Late Cretaceous period.
But Trevorrow assured fans that the Giga isn’t just any dinosaur. He was, in fact, inspired by everyone’s favorite villain, the Joker. “I wanted something that felt like the Joker,” Trevorrow said of the Giga. “It just wants to watch the world burn.” Dominion finds the Giga in the BioSyn Valley, another callback to the original franchise. BioSyn was the rival company to Hammond’s InGen, the one that Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) was smuggling dino DNA for before dying mid-mission. “BioSyn got the contract to house the dinosaurs that have been captured around the world via various governments,” Trevorrow said. “They claim it’s a research facility where they can study the pharmaceutical values of the animals. But there’s some other stuff going on.”
This all sounds very fun, but I’m honestly still hung up on the Joker of it all. While the Clown Prince of Crime is easily the comic book world’s most iconic villain, Joker mania has since spread to every other genre of film. Ever since Heath Ledger’s terrifying and Oscar-winning performance as the Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knight, the character has become for the de fault model for unhinged villainy. And look, it’s not without merit: few characters have captured the chaotic and unpredictable energy that defines the Joker.
But I’ve now hit Joker fatigue. Maybe it was Joaquin Phoenix’s failed stand-up comedian or Jared Leto’s tattoo-covered maniac or Barry Keoghan’s Hannibal Lecter-inspired Arkham inmate, but I feel like I’ve had enough Joker for one lifetime. The Joker has so dominated the Hollywood villain model that now even dinosaurs are being compared to the Joker?!
Unless the Giganotosaurus falls into a vat of chemicals or says “we live in a society”, I’m not buying it. Sometimes a dinosaur is just a dinosaur. There are plenty of other baddies to explore in Batman’s rogues gallery alone, and in the greater world of fiction itself. And what’s more, the real villains of the Jurassic franchise have always been the humans (and rightfully so). Unfortunately, Joker mania shows no signs of fading. And now that’s its a fast track to awards glory, we’ll no doubt see plenty of Jokers future films and series. But this trend has to fade eventually. After all, if everything is Joker, than nothing is Joker, right?
(via Empire Magazine, image: Universal Pictures/Warner Bros.)
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