Ahead of leading the next installment in Universal’s Jurassic World franchise, Scarlett Johansson has outed herself as a “huge nerd” for all things Jurassic Park and Jurassic World and revealed that she had “been trying to get into this franchise in any possible way for over 10 years.”
In an interview with Comicbook.com, Johansson said that the opportunity to join Jurassic World was enough for her to overcome starring in another big Hollywood franchise, after her long tenure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I’m an enormous Jurassic Park fan. It’s one of the first films I remember seeing in the theater. I remember seeing it so vividly. It was like life-changing. It was mind-blowing. I cannot express how excited I am.”
Johansson added, “I’m such an enormous fan of the franchise and a huge nerd for it. I’m just like, I can’t even, I’m pinching myself.”
In March, news broke that Johansson was in talks to star in Jurassic World 4, the yet-to-be-titled fourth installment in the Jurassic World series that launched in 2015 and the seventh movie in the Jurassic Park franchise that first hit screens in 1993. Directed by The Creator and Rogue One filmmaker Gareth Edwards, Jurassic World 4 will also star Jonathan Bailey, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Rupert Friend, Mahershala Ali, Luna Blaise, David Iacono and newcomer Audrina Miranda.
The script for the new film is being written by David Koepp, the scribe who penned the first two Jurassic Park films and Johansson described it as “incredible.” “[Koepp] returned after like 30 years to write the script. He’s so passionate about it, which is so awesome.”
Regarding her decade-long quest to join the Jurassic World series, Johansson said, “I’ve been trying to get into this franchise in any possible way for over 10 years. I’m like, ‘I’ll die in the first five minutes! I can get eaten by whatever! I’ll do the craft service!’ I’ll do anything for it.”
She added, “The fact that it’s happened in this way at this time just is actually unbelievable. I can’t believe it.”
