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Jurassic Time unveils a very special short documentary: 'Jurassic Park's Original T-Rex: The Tim Lawrence Files.' Discover an unknown history behind the most famous dinosaur ever featured on film. Tim Lawrence was the first to design the Tyrannosaurus Rex for the classic movie. He worked on special creature effects for films like 'Ghostbusters 2,' 'Harry and the Hendersons,' & 'Gremlins 2.' Tim was a man of many talents, and great aspirations, until he sadly passed away in 2019.
During his career, Tim Lawrence was one of the first people employed for Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel: 'Jurassic Park.' At this time, he helped create the very first incarnation of the film's T-Rex. Despite this milestone, after the film went on hiatus during Spielberg’s production of 'Hook,' Tim was replaced by Stan Winston for unknown reasons. But the story of Tim Lawrence’s time on 'Jurassic Park' is still one that should be remembered. It’s an important piece of the film’s history; one that has never been told in any book or program.
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Pre-production image featuring Tim Lawrence, in the grey ‘Les Misérables’ shirt, near Steven Spielberg among others.
Years before his death, Tim listed several auctions of his 'Jurassic Park' items on eBay. He provided several pictures and context for all of them, and most have never been seen before. Using these sources, and a few others, I (Derrick Davis) compiled them into a story that are all Tim's words; with short connective phrases to string them together. Voice actor J. Malone respectively recorded them. While this section of the presentation isn’t Tim’s voice, they are his stories. May he live on in memory…
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Mark Hallett designs and notes for the T-Rex.
The video includes an array of rare and never-before-seen images from the production of 'Jurassic Park,' including concept art by Mark Hallett, designs by Bob Gurr, and images of Tim's models, and scans of photographs. As J. tells Tim's story, it is accompanied with music by Bernard A. Kyer from the game 'Jurassic Explorer.'
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Bob Gurr T-Rex animatronic design.
Some may balk at the design being more fantasy-like in approach, but this was what Spielberg asked for. It is clear, through Tim's words, that Spielberg wanted a more character-oriented approach to the dinosaur than accuracy. Opinions obviously changed over time, and perhaps that is why he was replaced by Stan Winston later on. Still, one wonders why Tim wasn't simply given another chance at it? We'll probably never know. 'Jurassic Park' had an extensive pre-production phase compared to many films, especially unique in that it began before the book was even published. Early scripts by Crichton himself were dated months before it was on store shelves!
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Additional designs by Tim, nicknamed “Curious” & “Furious.”
Tim Lawrence was a talent that will not be forgotten, and I wanted his story about his time on 'Jurassic Park' to finally be out there for everyone to appreciate. He was an important piece of this classic film's history that needed to finally get a spotlight. I hope it was all done in a tasteful manner for everyone. It was an emotional experience working on this. Hopefully that all shows through in the presentation.
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This article was originally published at Jurassic Outpost by the author, Derrick Davis, on April 2024. It has been adapted to this website for promotional purposes.