When Hurricane Iniki hit Kauaʻi, Hawaii, the cast and crew of “Jurrasic Park” (1993) were all required to move into the ballroom of the hotel in which they were staying.
Richard Attenborough, however, stayed in his hotel room and slept through the entire event.
When asked how he could possibly have done this, Attenborough replied, “My dear boy, I survived the blitz!”
In this movie, Steven Spielberg directs the man who beat him to the Best Director Oscar in 1983 (Attenborough’s “Gandhi” (1982) also beat Spielberg’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) as Best Picture).
Attenborough agreed to make a return to acting in the film, his first acting role since “The Human Factor” (1979), saying he was a huge admirer of Spielberg, and always felt bad that “Gandhi ” had won the best picture award instead of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
“Diana (Diana Hawkins) and I went to see ‘E.T.’ in Los Angeles shortly before all the awards and we used language, when we came out, to the extent of saying, ‘We have no chance – ‘E.T.’ should and will walk away with it.’ Without the initial premise of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the film would be nothing.
Therefore it’s a narrative film, but it’s a piece of narration rather than a piece of cinema, as such. ‘E.T.’ depended absolutely on the concept of cinema, and I think that Steven Spielberg, who I’m very fond of, is a genius. I think ‘E.T.’ is a quite extraordinary piece of cinema.”
Spielberg had previously wanted to cast Attenborough as Tootles in “Hook” (1991), however, Attenborough had been busy directing “Chaplin” (1992) at the time.
John Hammond (Attenborough’s character) created the dinosaurs from DNA trapped in amber.
He also carried around a cane capped with a mosquito in amber.
Attenborough’s brother is naturalist David Attenborough, who has his own collection of animals trapped in amber. (IMDb)
Happy Birthday, Richard Attenborough!