Article ~ Daily Mail

ARIANA RICHARDS INTERVIEW
By Ryan Parry, West Coast Correspondent and Emma Patterson For Dailymail.com – June 2015

It was just a scream.

But child actress Ariana Richards’ piercing shrill as a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex attacked her in hit 1993 movie Jurassic Park became instantly embedded in film history. And for Ariana, then a 12-year-old actress, it was her powerful vocal talents that helped change her life forever.

Today for the first time she tells Daily Mail Online how the movie scream had been part of director Stephen Spielberg’s vision. And she reveals the renowned Hollywood director had a little help from his wife in picking the perfect high-pitched shriek.

Spielberg was viewing thousands of video tapes late at night in his search for a child lead in Jurassic Park – by far his most adventurous project yet – when Ariana’s ear-splitting audition woke up his wife Kate Capshaw.

‘Steven told me that he’d been watching a few of the tapes of the girls who were all up for my role and his wife, Kate, was asleep on the couch,’ said Ariana.

‘He then watched my tape of me screaming and Kate suddenly leaped up off the couch and ran into the hallway screaming, “Steven, Steven, are the kids okay?”

‘A moment, where I wasn’t physically there, changed my life.’

Ariana had landed the acclaimed role of Lexi Murphy in the mammoth smash – which has inspired yet another sequel, Jurassic World, which is released today.

And in a revealing interview she tells of an astonishing real life roller coaster ride fighting dinosaurs, getting covered in Dino slime and even surviving a real life destructive hurricane.

Spielberg and Universal Studios acquired the rights to Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park screenplay for $1.5million in 1990, but by the end of 1993, the movie had grossed a staggering $900million.

Ariana’s screams became one of the movie’s selling points and she recalls the audition for part in which she was not told what the film was about, shown a script or given any preparation.

‘It was a very unusual process for me. I’d normally get chance to read a script, but with Jurassic Park they really did not want me to see a script. They called my agent and asked that I go in and be put on tape, but I had absolutely no lines to prepare. So I showed up and they told me to pretend I was being attacked by a Tyrannosaurus Rex and told me to just let loose and give it all I’d got.

‘So that’s what I did, I just tried to imagine what that would be like and then screamed and screamed.’

A few days later Ariana was on her way to Disneyland with her family when she got a call from Spielberg’s office inviting her to meet the director.

‘I remember we put our Disney plans aside and I went to his office to meet him,’ she says.

‘I walked in and he put me right at ease immediately. ‘He was so warm and easy going and at the end of our chat he said to me, ‘So, Ariana, are you busy this summer?’

‘Needless to say I had the presence of mind to say no and he said, “Well great, you’re Lex, you got the job”. It was wonderful.’

Ariana says the scream later came to define her role in the hit movie.

She added: ‘For a long time after Jurassic Park when I had interviews, people would always try to get me to scream.’

Ariana, 35 – who these days is a successful artist – is now looking forward to seeing Jurassic World.

But with the advent of CGI technology she believes life as a child actor must be much different today to when she got up close with giant and sometimes terrifying model dinosaurs on set.

She even recalls the now late actor Lord Attenborough assuring her that she and the other children on set would fine, as he had survived The Blitz in London during World War II.

Jurassic World will feature some of the greatest CGI monsters ever seen on the big screen.

And while Ariana is excited for the movie, she admits that working with ‘real life’ dinosaurs gave her a unique experience.

Spielberg and his team built animatronic real sized working models to shoot and convince audiences that the creatures had come to life.

‘It felt like a real Jurassic Park when we were there, the creatures were so incredibly life like,’ she recalls. ‘They moved in a realistic manner, thanks to as many as six guys working their bodies, and it was a golden age for special effects creatures they felt so realistic.

‘When confronted by a T-Rex I didn’t have to stretch my imagination very far.

‘Sometimes a special effects performer would get in a velociraptor suit and chase me around the kitchen, and it was very nerve wracking.

‘The way we had it was that the co-stars were in the shot – the dinosaurs were our co-stars.’

Ariana says the sheer volume of dinosaur models was the result of a tremendous amount of money poured in to the production to create and operate them.

But now that there is so much CGI development she concedes that the latest movie will be far different.

Ariana has very fond memories of working with film genius Spielberg.

‘Steven really wanted me to play that character the way I wanted to, which was great.

‘One of the most memorable scenes for me was the dinosaur sneezing scene. I remember Steven was just relishing watching me get sneezed on and relishing the experience of watching me get covered in this goo multiples times and only finally when the goo was hanging off my lip he exclaimed, “That’s perfect, that’s it.”

‘I remember it was this clear goo with some spinach mixed in which they put into a big plastic container and shot at me. It was so not glamorous.

‘I was also soaking wet for weeks at a time, especially when we were shooting the T-Rex scenario with the mud pits and the giant fans and the rain machines.

‘It’s a miracle I never got sick because I seamed to be screaming my lungs out on a daily basis.

‘The set and models when we did it were just incredible and it was really nice as an actor to have such lifelike models to play off.’

Ariana says one of her favorite scenes, because of the special effects used, was when her character fell through a crawl space to a waiting Raptor.

‘I’m looking up towards the camera and the special effects guys recently told me that that scene was one of the most pivotal moments in special effects history because they had used a stunt woman from Cirque du Soleil to do the acrobatic and then they super imposed the image of my face over hers, and they told me that was apparently the first time that had been done.

‘I have huge respect for the Jurassic World crew. The actors really have a more difficult job today as they depend solely on their imagination.

‘I’m really hoping they work with characters that are fully developed. They also have Steven involved and I am sworn to secrecy on what he’s shared with me. ‘He’s been in touch about it, but I’ve promised I will not tell.’

Ariana is fond of Spielberg for many reasons, but it was the director’s response to a life-threatening hurricane that forced the cast and crew to take refuge in the ballroom of their hotel, that she remembers so vividly.

Spielberg sat beside her throughout the chilling 12-hour ordeal that saw the island of Kauai left in complete devastation.

Hurricane Iniki, which struck on September 11, 1992, was the most powerful hurricane to strike Hawaii in recorded history, causing $1.8billion in damages and leaving six islanders dead.

‘The eye of the hurricane went directly over us,’ recalls Ariana.

‘It hit the day before we were scheduled to complete our filming and it completely devastated the island.

‘We had to move to the island of O’ahu for a few more days of filming to pick up the Gallimimus stampede scene, which we had not had a chance to complete prior to the hurricane.

‘It was incredible to go through that experience with the cast and crew.

‘The waves were 30ft high, all the palm trees on the island were snapped like matchsticks, there were 150 mile an hour winds, it was just incredible.

‘I’ll never forget it. The cast and crew gathered together in this big ballroom at our hotel and it was actually a very bonding experience for us all. It helped me forge some life long friendships and I’ll never forget how Steven was concerned about Joey and myself being ok.

‘He really wanted to make sure we weren’t scared and so he hung out with us and started telling us ghost stories to distract us from the hurricane.

‘And seriously it worked because I was more afraid of the ghost stories than I was of the hurricane.’

Ariana remembers part of the roof of the hotel ballroom blowing off, but says she was too young to understand the severity of the situation.

‘I had the sweet innocence of youth and was too naive to be that afraid,’ she said.

‘One of the most memorable moments for me during that time was when Steven went up to Richard Attenborough during the hurricane to ask him whether he was ok, and Richard told Steven, “Ah, my dear boy, I survived the Blitz”.

‘Richard had such a great sense of humor and I had so much fun with him on the days we were on set together.

‘I found myself gravitating towards him a lot in between scenes so I could hangout with him. He was so warm and grandfatherly and he loved telling stories and jokes.

‘I remember listening with rapt attention to him because he’d experienced so many incredible things and I loved hearing about his experience of directing and how passionate he was about that, it was really something and I’m really lucky that I got to spend so much time with him.’

The hurricane brought another unforgettable memory for the young actress because it was also her 13th birthday when it hit.

‘On the eve of the hurricane Steven gifted me a very nice video camera and halted filming to throw a surprise party with all the cast and crew,’ she said.

‘It was the best birthday surprise I could ever have wished for and to this day it is my most memorable birthday ever.’

Ariana also remembers the moment she met Princess Diana in London for the Jurassic Park UK premiere.

‘I have some fantastic memories and such an exciting childhood,’ Ariana says. ‘I traveled so much and was on so many TV and movie sets, it was just one thing after another, it was wonderful’.

‘I had such vivid memories of that great night. Steven stood next to me at the premiere, and just before Diana arrived he handed me the bouquet of flowers and said to me: “Now Arianna, out of the lot of us here you are the only one who will remember the right thing to say to the princess”.

‘He gave me the words to say and mentioned using the phrase Royal Highness, and I got it right.

‘She couldn’t have been more lovely, supportive and enthusiastic.

‘She told me she couldn’t wait o share the movie with her sons.’

As a youngster Ariana had already made many TV appearances and had also starred opposite Kevin Bacon in the 1990 hit, Tremors.

After Jurassic Park she landed roles in Born Free 2 in 1996 and Princess Stallion in 1997.

‘I think I have some fantastic memories and such an exciting childhood, I traveled so much and was on so many TV and movie sets, it was just one thing after another, it was wonderful.

‘There were pros and cons to the experiences I had, especially after Jurassic Park came out. I was suddenly catapulted into being known worldwide overnight and that’s when I felt like my life really shifted in a big way and I didn’t have a private life anymore.

‘If I wanted to go to a café and have lunch and have a conversation with people it was very difficult because people would come up to me and ask for autographs ‘Being in the public eye brought a lot of challenges and I’m really fortunate that I am really close with my family and I had them close to me always.’

Eventually Ariana, moved away from acting and has since gone on to establish a hugely successful career as a painter.

But she has not ruled out acting again in the future.

‘After Jurassic Park there was a variety of roles offered and tremendous amount of attention worldwide,’ she said.

And she hasn’t ruled out working with Spielberg again.

‘When we were working together on Jurassic he said, ‘You know Ariana, one day we have to do a talking movie together’, which really made me laugh.

‘I find art to be incredibly challenging, but rewarding. ‘But if Steven does one day decide to write me a role, it would be an even greater challenge to turn that down.’

She added about her time filming the movie: ‘Truly, the entire experience of making Jurassic Park was one big adventure from beginning to end.

‘I really bonded with Steven through all that. He’s become a good friend over the years.

‘We still see each other and if he’s in town and I’m in town we will always get together.

‘It’s always so wonderful being able to spend time and catch up on everything he’s doing. He has such an incredible life.’