Shooting Jurassic World Rebirth in India: Director Gareth Edwards explains how real world locations elevated the VFX | WION EXCLUSIVE

The Jurassic World franchise stands as a colossal monument in cinematic history, a legacy built on the groundbreaking special effects and captivating storytelling of its predecessor, Jurassic Park. For any filmmaker stepping into this universe, the challenge isn't merely to create a new story, but to honour a beloved world while pushing its boundaries. It's a delicate dance between nostalgic reverence and innovative vision; a tightrope walk where every creative decision resonates with decades of fan expectation.

In an exclusive conversation with WION, Gareth Edwards, director of Jurassic World: Rebirth, gives insight into how he navigated this immense legacy, exploring what it truly means to contribute to a phenomenon as grand as Jurassic World.

What do you keep in mind when you become part of a legacy as big as Jurassic World?

Gareth Edwards: It's hard to put it in words. I feel like cinema is an international language. Cinema goes beyond words;it goes straight into your brain. It's like watching a memory or a dream in real time. So it's very hard to write down, this is what makes Jurassic a legend, it is more of a feeling. The key is to be a big fan. I was a massive fan of the franchise, and eventually, you found your way through it. If you go slightly one way, it looks like you are copying Jurassic Park too much, or if you decide to go another way, it doesn't feel like a Jurassic story anymore. There's a fine line you have to keep in mind to find the right balance.

Keeping the VFX and technical transitions in mind, can you comment on the massive transitions Jurassic World has undergone since the 90s?

Gareth Edwards: I think, in the 90s, Jurassic Park changed everything. It made me get into visual effects. I started learning more about visual effects because of that movie. The original T-Rex in the nighttime scenes, in the Steven Spielberg directorial, were brilliantly done. When you watch them today, they remain in your memory. It feels like dinosaurs were perfected only to bring them on screen. So the thing that we wanted to get right was the environment. We didn't want to shoot this inside a studio; we wanted real-world locations. We went to Asia, shot in real jungles, we went to India, and there was a place called Jog Falls. We sent a crew up there, mapped the entire area around Jog Falls, and there's this whole sequence, that's what we worked hard for. We wanted to get the water to look right. It was more about the environment this time.

Wow, so you shot in India, that's interesting. If you had to sum up your adventure in the country, how would you describe it?

Gareth Edwards: It was a second unit crew that went to shoot in India. We were looking everywhere for the right kind of waterfall. We looked at Amazon, but in India, we found the perfect location. You see, we didn't want a location that was so familiar to the audience that they go, hey, but that's not so and so place. The waterfall area in India was so mysterious, so beautiful. I have never seen anything like that. We filmed there with drones, cameras from every single angle you could think of. I'm proud of those shots. Had we not gone there, we would have had to go for VFX, but then it wouldn't have looked too good.

I have never been to India, but I am going to take a break after this movie releases and I hope that I am able to go. India has that amazing mix of nature and culture, and I really want to see it with my own eyes. India inspires me. Maybe we can shoot the sequel in India.