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Rexy

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For the band, see Rexy (music group).
Rexy
Jurassic Park character
First appearanceJurassic Park (book; 1990)
Jurassic Park (film; 1993)
Last appearanceJurassic World Dominion (2022)
Created byMichael Crichton
Steven Spielberg
Designed byStan Winston (animatronic)
Steve Williams (CGI)
In-universe information
SpeciesTyrannosaurus rex
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Rexy is the colloquial nickname for a fictional Tyrannosaurus that appears throughout the Jurassic Park franchise. She first appeared in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park, and made its onscreen debut in the 1993 film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg. She returns in the 2015 film Jurassic World and its sequels, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

For the original film, special-effects artist Stan Winston created an animatronic T. rex measuring 20 feet high and 40 feet long, while Steve Williams of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) created a CGI version for a majority of the scenes. Colin Trevorrow served as the primary writer and director of the Jurassic World trilogy. Although other T. rexes appeared in the preceding Jurassic Park sequels, Trevorrow sought to bring back the same individual from the first film. ILM again worked on the animal for each of the Jurassic World films. Effects artist Neal Scanlan also created an animatronic for Fallen Kingdom.

The films do not specify a name for the animal. "Rexy" came into common usage among fans after the release of Jurassic World, although the name had also been used previously in Crichton's novel. It has since been used in other licensed media. The name "Roberta" was also used by visual-effects artist Phil Tippett in his storyboards for the original film.

Appearances

In the Jurassic Park novel and its film adaptation, the Tyrannosaurus is among many genetically engineered dinosaurs on the fictional Isla Nublar, the site of a planned theme park and zoo. She eventually escapes its enclosure and goes on to terrorize characters throughout the story. In the film version, she also kills Donald Gennaro. At the film's end, Velociraptors corner Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Lex and Tim. However, the Tyrannosaurus unexpectedly arrives and battles the raptors, inadvertently saving the humans.

In Jurassic World, the island is home to a dinosaur theme park that has operated for years, with the Tyrannosaurus as a prime attraction. The animal has a reduced role compared with the original film, appearing primarily at the end to battle the escaped Indominus rex; she succeeds with help from a Mosasaurus and a Velociraptor named Blue. Isla Nublar is abandoned by the end of the film, leaving the Tyrannosaurus and other dinosaurs to reclaim the island as their own, once again.

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous is a television series set during and after the events of Jurassic World. The same Tyrannosaurus appears several times in the series, terrorizing a group of teenaged campers who were left stranded on Isla Nublar.

The Tyrannosaurus makes several appearances throughout Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which sees the dinosaurs being relocated to California for a black market auction, before eventually killing Eli Mills and escaping into the wilderness.

In Jurassic World Dominion, the Tyrannosaurus has been pursued by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for years before being captured and sent to live at Biosyn's sanctuary in the Dolomites. There, she battles a Giganotosaurus for superiority, eventually killing the latter.[1] A deleted scene takes place during the Cretaceous and shows the same animals in battle during that time period, though with the Giganotosaurus prevailing; a mosquito then lands on the deceased Tyrannosaurus and sucks its blood, which would eventually be used to clone the animal in the present day. The scene is included in the film's extended edition and as part of a five-minute prologue.[2][3]

Production background

Jurassic Park

Pre-production stop-motion model of Rexy displayed at the National Museum of Cinema of Turin, Italy.
A model that was used as reference for the animatronic Rexy in Jurassic Park, kept at Industrial Light & Magic's headquarters in San Francisco.[4]

Special-effects artist Stan Winston worked on the dinosaurs for the first film. His team created an animatronic T. rex that stood 20 feet (6.1 m), weighed 17,500 pounds (7,900 kg), and was 40 feet (12 m) long.[5] At the time, it was the largest sculpture ever made by Stan Winston Studio.[6] The studio building had to be modified for the construction of the animatronic.[7] Jack Horner, the film's paleontological consultant, called the animatronic "the closest I've ever been to a live dinosaur".[5] The animatronic was used in a scene set during a storm, depicting the T. rex as she breaks free from its enclosure. Shooting the scene was difficult because the foam rubber skin of the animatronic would absorb water, causing the dinosaur to shake from the extra weight. In between takes, Winston's team had to dry off the dinosaur in order to proceed with filming.[7][8] Winston's team initially created a miniature sculpture of the T. rex, serving as a reference for the construction of the full-sized animatronic. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) also scanned the miniature sculpture to create CGI shots of the animal.[9] The T. rex roar was created by combining the sounds of a baby elephant, a tiger, and an alligator.[10][11][12]

In the first film, the T. rex was originally supposed to be killed off. Halfway through filming, director Steven Spielberg realized that the T. rex was the star of the film and decided to have the script changed just before shooting the death scene. The changes resulted in the final ending, in which the T. rex inadvertently saves the human characters by killing a pack of velociraptors.[13][14][15][16][17] Spielberg had the ending changed out of fear that the original ending, without the T. rex, would disappoint audiences.[18]

Jurassic World trilogy

Although preceding Jurassic Park sequels had featured other T. rexes, Colin Trevorrow sought to bring back the same individual from the first film.[2][19] Trevorrow, primary writer and director for the trilogy, said about the T. rex's return, "We took the original design and obviously, technology has changed. So, it's going to move a little bit differently, but it'll move differently because it's older. And we're giving her some scars and we're tightening her skin. So, she has that feeling of, like, an older Burt Lancaster".[20][21] Motion capture was used to portray the T. rex,[22] and a full-scale foot was created for lighting reference and to help with framing shots.[23]

For its appearance in Fallen Kingdom, ILM sent Neal Scanlan the T. rex model previously used for Jurassic World. Using the model, Scanlan created a full-scale 3D print of the T. rex head and shoulders.[24] The life-size T. rex animatronic, which had the ability to breathe and move its head, was controlled with joysticks.[25] It was used for a scene where the sedated T. rex is inside a cage, while Owen Grady and Claire Dearing attempt to retrieve blood from her for a transfusion to help Blue. The beginning shots of the scene were created using only the animatronic, while the ending shots solely used CGI. The middle portion of the scene used a combination of the two methods.[26][24][27] Trevorrow said about the dinosaur, "We've been following this same character since the beginning; she's the same T. rex that was in Jurassic Park and in Jurassic World. She is iconic—not just because she's a T. rex, but because she's this T. rex".[24]

Speaking about Dominion, Trevorrow described the Cretaceous fight as an origin story for the T. rex "in the way we might get to do in a superhero film. The T-Rex is a superhero for me".[28] Regarding its death to the Giganotosaurus, Trevorrow called it "such a horrifying loss for all of us who grew up with the T. rex. To build this into something that feels like a revenge picture that takes place over 65 million years was one of my favorite ideas that we had".[29] At the end of Dominion, the T. rex encounters two other tyrannosaurs, which Trevorrow confirmed as the same duo featured in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).[30] Trevorrow said he wanted to "really make the audience want her to find peace. We want her to find a home. She feels like she has been constantly displaced, time and time again. For her to find a family and sense of belonging is what I want".[31]

For Dominion, Trevorrow wanted to reuse the animatronic T. rex from Fallen Kingdom. However, it had already deteriorated, as is common for animatronics.[32] Instead, the animal was portrayed entirely through CGI.[33] Previous Jurassic World films depicted the T. rex with an emaciated physical appearance compared with the first Jurassic Park. Trevorrow sought to restore her original design for Dominion. ILM located Softimage 3D files of the original T. rex model from 1992 and compared it with their modern high-resolution model, as well as images of Winston's original maquette.[34][35] Changes were made to the animal's jaw, eyes, and brow ridges. David Vickery of ILM said, "The idea was literally to restore her to her former glory," stating further that fans reacted positively to the changes: "They're like, [gasps] 'Hang on, they've changed T. rex. She looks amazing!'"[34]

Scientific accuracy

A scene in the first film depicts the T. rex chasing a Jeep.[10][36] Animator Steve Williams said he decided to "throw physics out the window and create a T. rex that moved at sixty miles per hour even though its hollow bones would have busted if it ran that fast".[37] In the film, it is stated that the T. rex has been recorded running as fast as 32 miles per hour,[38] although scientists believe that its actual top speed would have ranged from 12 to 25 miles per hour.[38][39][40] In the novel and its film adaptation, it is stated that the T. rex has vision based on movement, but later studies indicate that the dinosaur had binocular vision, like a bird of prey.[39][41]

The physical appearance of the T. rex in the Jurassic World films is contrary to new discoveries about the dinosaur. For consistency, the films have continued to depict the dinosaur with its wrists pointing downward at an unnatural angle, whereas the real animal had its wrists facing sideways toward each other.[42] The Jurassic World Dominion prologue features the animal lightly covered in protofeathers.[28][43]

Name

Two tyrannosaurs are featured in Crichton's novel: a juvenile and an adult. Robert Muldoon, the theme park's game warden, refers to the adult on several occasions as "Rexy".[44] Visual-effects artist Phil Tippett had worked on the original film, and his storyboards referred to the T. rex as "Roberta". The films themselves do not specify a name for the animal. Following the release of Jurassic World, fans began referring to the individual as "Rexy".[45][46] The name was later used in the 2018 novel The Evolution of Claire,[47] and is also used by Sammy, a character in Camp Cretaceous.

Reception

Writing for Screen Rant in 2017, Tom Chapman ranked the franchise's T. rexes, including "Rexy", among its greatest characters.[48] In 2020, Rafarl Sarmiento from Screen Rant listed the T. rex as the best dinosaur in the franchise: "The T-Rex is both awe-inspiring and horrific, but at the end of the day, it's just an animal (that actually existed) fulfilling its instinct. Yet it carries an aura of grand showmanship, something that really represents the spectacle that Jurassic Park could offer."[49] In response to fan criticism about the T. rex being portrayed as weak in battles, Trevorrow noted that this individual would be near the end of its life during the Jurassic World films.[50]

References

  1. ^ Bui, Hoai-Tran (June 10, 2021). "'Jurassic World: Dominion' Will Complete the Original T-Rex's Franchise-Long Journey". /Film. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Armstrong, Vanessa (June 10, 2021). "'Jurassic World: Dominion' Director Colin Trevorrow On Embracing Feathered Dinosaurs, Taking The Series In A Fresh Direction, And Having Sympathy For The T-Rex". /Film. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  3. ^ Bennett, Tara (September 2, 2022). "The big change in the 'Jurassic World Dominion' Extended Cut? T. rex gets a bigger story". Syfy. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  4. ^ Celestino, Mike (2016-12-08). "PHOTOS: A visit to legendary visual effects house Industrial Light & Magic at Lucasfilm's campus in San Francisco". Inside the Magic. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  5. ^ a b Corliss, Richard (April 26, 1993). "Behind the Magic of Jurassic Park". Time. Archived from the original on June 14, 2008.
  6. ^ "Jurassic Park's T-Rex – Sculpting a Full-Size Dinosaur". Stan Winston School of Character Arts. December 15, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  7. ^ a b Effron, Lauren; Gowen, Gwen (May 22, 2018). "'Jurassic Park' turns 25: Behind-the-scenes moments you may not have known about the iconic summer thriller". ABC. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  8. ^ Shay & Duncan 1993, p. 110–1.
  9. ^ MacManus, Christopher (April 10, 2013). "Making the dinosaurs of 'Jurassic Park'". CNET. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  10. ^ a b Shay & Duncan 1993, p. 144–6.
  11. ^ "How They Designed The T-Rex Roar in 'Jurassic Park'". Film School Rejects. December 16, 2020.
  12. ^ "How Jurassic Park Created the T-Rex Roar". CBR.com. May 5, 2022.
  13. ^ Alexander, Bryan (April 3, 2013). "20 years later, 'Jurassic Park' reopens in 3-D". USA Today. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  14. ^ Chitwood, Adam (December 17, 2015). "The T. Rex Almost Had a Different Fate in 'Jurassic Park'". Collider. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  15. ^ Jackson, Matthew (December 19, 2015). "Little-known Sci-fi Fact: Jurassic Park's most iconic dinosaur was supposed to die". Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  16. ^ Shay & Duncan 1993, p. 118.
  17. ^ "Return to Jurassic Park: Making Prehistory". Jurassic Park (Blu-ray ed.). 2011.
  18. ^ Jones, James Earl (Host) (1995). The Making of Jurassic Park (VHS). Universal.
  19. ^ Truitt, Brian (June 11, 2022). "Get it, girl! An ode to the T. rex, the true unsung hero of the 'Jurassic World' franchise". USA Today. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  20. ^ Sciretta, Peter (April 29, 2015). "Original T. rex returns in 'Jurassic World', This Film "Is Her Unforgiven"". Slashfilm. Archived from the original on June 14, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  21. ^ Garza, Frida (April 29, 2015). "The Truly Frightening T-Rex From 'Jurassic Park' Coming Back". Complex. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  22. ^ Turney, Drew (June 16, 2015). "Colin Trevorrow – Jurassic World". MovieHole. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015.
  23. ^ Failes, Ian. "A whole new Jurassic World" Archived September 13, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. FX Guide, June 17, 2015
  24. ^ a b c "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom–Production Information" (PDF). Universal Pictures. May 2018. pp. 2–4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 18, 21, 26, 28, 30–34. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 16, 2020.
  25. ^ Anderton, Ethan (April 23, 2018). "'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' Has More Animatronic Dinosaurs Than Any 'Jurassic Park' Sequel". Slashfilm. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  26. ^ Robertson, Barbara (July 3, 2018). "How ILM Blended Practical and Digital Effects for 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom'". Animation World Network. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  27. ^ Evangelista, Chris (May 18, 2018). "New 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' Featurette Has Bryce Dallas Howard Riding A T-Rex". Slashfilm. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  28. ^ a b Purslow, Matt (23 November 2021). "Jurassic World Dominion Prologue Breakdown with Director Colin Trevorrow". IGN. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  29. ^ Clark, Anne Victoria (June 23, 2022). "Why Colin Trevorrow Won't Let the T. Rex Die". Vulture. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  30. ^ Reyes, Mike (June 13, 2022). "Is The Lost World: Jurassic Park Still Canon? Jurassic World Dominion's Writers Have Thoughts". CinemaBlend. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  31. ^ Miller, Leon (May 20, 2022). "Jurassic World Dominion Boss Teases the End to Rexy's Story Arc". CBR. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  32. ^ Weintraub, Steve (June 11, 2022). "'Jurassic World Dominion' Director Colin Trevorrow on Which Dinosaur is the Strongest, Deleted Scenes & Easter Eggs". Collider. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  33. ^ Desowitz, Bill (June 25, 2022). "'Jurassic World: Dominion': How the Giganotosaurus Became the Joker of the Franchise". IndieWire. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  34. ^ a b Weiss, Josh (August 22, 2022). "From killer dinosaurs to giant locusts: A guide to the CG and practical creatures of 'Jurassic World Dominion'". Syfy. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
  35. ^ Hogg, Trevor (July 5, 2022). "Exclusive: 'Jurassic World Dominion' VFX Supe David Vickery Unleashes the Dinosaurs Again". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on January 24, 2023.
  36. ^ Acuna, Kirsten (July 11, 2014). "How 4 Minutes Of CGI Dinosaurs In 'Jurassic Park' Took A Year To Make". Business Insider. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  37. ^ Shone, Tom (2004). Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Summer. Free Press. pp. 213, 217. ISBN 0-7432-3568-1.
  38. ^ a b "'Jurassic Park' was a lie: T. Rex couldn't run fast, scientists say". Fox News. July 18, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  39. ^ a b Blitz, Matt (May 16, 2014). "Jurassic Park Lied to You: T-Rex Had Great Eyesight Really". Gizmodo. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  40. ^ Eisenberg, Eric (April 22, 2021). "Sorry Jurassic Park, New Research About The T-Rex Blows A Hole In Some Iconic Scenes". CinemaBlend. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  41. ^ Jaffe, Eric (June 28, 2006). "Sight for 'saur eyes: T. rex vision was among nature's best". Science News. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  42. ^ Woodward, Aylin (July 10, 2020). "The 'Jurassic Park' franchise got many dinosaurs wrong. The venomous Dilophosaurus was actually 20 feet long and poison-free". Business Insider. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  43. ^ Armstrong, Vanessa (June 9, 2021). "The First 'Jurassic World: Dominion' Footage Offers A Franchise Origin Story And A Whole Bunch Of T-Rex Action". /Film. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  44. ^ Crichton, Michael (1990). Jurassic Park (2012 ed.). Random House Publishing Group. pp. 303, 322, 324. ISBN 978-0-307-76305-1. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  45. ^ Scott, Ryan (April 3, 2017). "Original Jurassic Park T-Rex Will Return in Jurassic World 2". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on April 20, 2017.
  46. ^ Scott, Ryan (December 13, 2018). "Jurassic Park T-Rex Has a Name and It's Not Rexy". MovieWeb. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  47. ^ Sharpe, Tess (2018). The Evolution of Claire. Random House Children's Books. ISBN 978-0-525-58072-0. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  48. ^ Chapman, Tom (February 22, 2017). "Jurassic Park's 15 Greatest Characters Of All Time". Screen Rant. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  49. ^ Sarmiento, Rafarl (May 19, 2020). "The 10 Best Dinosaurs In The Jurassic Park Franchise, Ranked". Screen Rant.
  50. ^ Weiss, Josh (June 20, 2022). "Was the T. rex 'weak' in 'Jurassic World Dominion'? Colin Trevorrow defends our favorite dino". Syfy. Retrieved June 28, 2022.

Bibliography

  • Shay, Don; Duncan, Jody (1993). The Making of Jurassic Park: An Adventure 65 million Years in the Making. Boxtree Limited. p. 61. ISBN 1-85283-774-8.
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