8 Things We Learnt About 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' From Chris Pratt & Bryce Dallas Howard In Shanghai

In Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, director JA Bayona couldn’t ask for a better on-screen couple to work with on his Hollywood debut. “I really enjoy working with them,” Bayona enthuses. “Somehow they are a little bit like the characters they are playing. You can see the chemistry that they have in front of the camera and they also have it behind the camera. They are very supportive. They always look for the best and I felt very comfortable working with them. They are fun to be around and they made my work a lot easier.” Bayona is especially impressed with Star-Lord’s improvisation skills. “He is a great improviser. Not only that, he’s brilliant also in terms of working the scenes on set with me and the writer. He had brilliant ideas every time we talk about the scenes and a lot of them are in the movie.”

In Fallen Kingdom, Bayona got to cast again Geraldine Chapin, the daughter of cinema legend Charlie Chaplin, who has appeared in his earlier movies The Orphanage, The Impossible and A Monster Calls. “I love movies and she’s one of those actresses who has seen the whole of the 20th century passed in front of her,” says Bayona of Chaplin, 74, who plays a nanny working in the Lockwood Estate. “She’s not just an amazing actress but an amazing person as well. I just love to spend time with her and talk about the movies she did in the past.” Chaplin has another Jurassic Park connection: Richard Attenborough, who played John Hammond, directed the 1992 Charlie Chaplin biopic starring Robert Downey Jr. (Photo: TPG News/Click Photos)

On working with Steven Spielberg, the Godfather of the Jurassic Park franchise, Bayona says, “It was always a rewarding collaboration. I’d normally show him the scenes and he was always very enthusiastic about them.” One such scene was the sequence — inspired by John Badham’s 1979 movie Dracula which terrified Bayona for months as a kid — where the Indoraptor crawls into the Lockwood mansion and stalks a young girl (Isabella Sermon) in her bedroom. “I remember Steven saw that [animatic] and he said he was very scared. He said, ‘If I am scared now, I can’t imagine how I am going to react when I see the movie. He was very supportive all the time.” (Spielberg photo: TPG News/Click Photos)

In Jurassic World, Howard’s character Claire was criticised by Netizens for running around the jungle… in high heels. In Fallen Kingdom, Claire switches to more sensible shoes. “I think the journey of Claire’s footwear,” says Howard, before bursting into boisterous laughter, “has definitely come to represent her character. In Jurassic World, it’s her being disconnected with her own humanity that makes it is so hilarious to see her running in the jungle in heels. You’d assume this is someone who isn’t going to survive but she ultimately defies expectations and becomes the hero by out-running a T-Rex in high heels! In Fallen Kingdom, she’s wearing proper footwear because this time she’s prepared to handle [the dino crisis].” But Claire hasn’t given up on her love for heels. “As a staunch feminist, I really want her to wear high heel shoes in the office and when she’s visiting the Lockwood Estate. Because that represents her femininity and power that she has which is undeniable.”

In Jurassic World, there was only one animatronic creature, the Apatosaurus; in Fallen Kingdom, there are no less than five lifelike animatronic dinosaurs. Right from the get-go, Bayona insisted on using more animatronics. “Because the Jurassic Park universe is grounded — it isn’t a fantasy set on another planet,” Bayona explains. “It’s about a subject matter that could happen nowadays. [And] because the movie is about the emotional connection between man and dinosaurs, I have to see the actors actually touching the dinosaurs, which would make their performances more real.” Elsewhere, Bayona would regularly scare his actors on set with dinosaur sound effects played on his iPod, and he’d film their reactions (“you should see their faces”). Howard appreciates Bayona’s approach. “What JA did made everything feel real and that help actors stay focus,” says she. “So, what you’re seeing on-screen is a real honest reaction, something we cannot manufacture in our brain.”

There were 10-12 puppeteers operating the animatronic version of Blue the raptor. Bayona says the mechanical dinosaurs — designed by creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) —not only helped the actors but also the CGI artisans. “They would copy the textures and colours of the dinosaurs on set and recreate the CGI ones in post-production.”

One epic set-piece in Fallen Kingdom has Pratt chasing Howard and The Get Down’s Justice Smith in a Gyrosphere that rolls off a cliff into the ocean, with Howard and Smith trapped in the glass-encased theme park vehicle. The underwater sequence took five days to film at London’s Pinewood Studios. It was a cool stunt but also very — whatchamacallit — gross. “There were these crew guys from England and they drank tea — lots of tea — but no one got out of the pool [to take a loo break],” recalls Pratt who assumes that they’d done the deed in the pool. How else can you explain the huge amount of chlorine in the water? “My hair got fried by the chlorine — it turned blonde. So I had to spend the rest of the shoot dying my hair every two days to match my original hair colour from the beginning of the shoot.”

Howard and Smith didn’t have to pretend they were falling over a cliff — they did it for real in an outdoor rollercoaster built specifically for the sequence. “I don’t love rollercoasters,” says Howard. “I’d choose running in high heels over riding a rollercoaster any day. Oddly, I feel more in control when running in high heels.”

Goldblum is, of course, one of the stars of Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park, where he plays Dr Ian Malcolm, the chaos-theoretician with the charismatic rock star aura. Even though Goldblum, 65, didn’t share any scenes with Pratt and Howard, the three managed to spend some time together while promoting the movie in London. And to be in close proximity with Goldblum is a life-altering experience. “He has a dizzying, hypnotising, enigmatic personality,” Pratt marvels. “Whether it’s a man, woman or beast, when you’re around Jeff Goldblum, you’re seduced and drawn in [by his sonorous and whimsical voice]. I think he could easily start a massive cult. He’s so thoughtful, so kind; he soothes you with his gestures and his voice. I would love to have a Jeff Goldblum app on my phone. If I get stressed, I guess I could just call him.”

On the road: Pratt, Howard and Jeff Goldblum, promoting Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on The Graham Norton Show. The episode, aired on May 25, also featured Westworld's Thandie Newton and musical guest Jake Shears. (Photo: BBC Lifestyle)

Director JA Bayona, Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt at the press con held on May 30 at Shanghai 1933, an abattoir-turned-lifestyle centre. In China, Pratt's nickname is 帕帕 (pronounced 'pa pa') which is a term of endearment for someone nice. At the end of the event, they were each presented with a dinosaur-themed Chinese paintings.

The Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom press con at the Shanghai 1933.

Chris Pratt, posing with fans at the Red Carpet at Shanghai 1933.

.... while Bryce Dallas Howard is busy signing autographs.

Director JA Bayon, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, thrilling fans at the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai.