Jurassic Park Star Recreates Classic Shot 30 Years Later
Ariana Richards recreates her iconic jello scene from the original Jurassic Park.
Millions of years ago, Dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Thirty years ago, they ruled the box office. Now, in celebration of Jurassic Park‘s 30th anniversary, Ariana Richards has recreated one of the film’s most iconic shots on TikTok featuring a spoonful of lime green jello.
@jurassicworld #duet with @Jurassic World A duet 30 years in the making. #JurassicPark30 #Dinosaurs #JurassicPark ♬ original sound – Jurassic World
In a video recently uploaded by the Jurassic World TikTok account, Richards mimics a scene from the original Jurassic Park where her character Lex attempts to eat some gelatin only for her hand to start shaking. The five-second clip features a split-screen image with young Richards on top and the actress’s current-day incarnation underneath. The actress does a wonderful job of recreating the original scene, wobbly dessert and all.
It’s one of Jurrasic Park‘s most famous scenes and involves teen hacker Lex and her brother Tim attempting to escape from Velociraptors in the park’s kitchen. The scene begins with the children thinking they’re relatively safe and deciding to treat themselves to some dessert as a reward for surviving a T-Rex attack. Lex lifts a spoonful of jello to her mouth, only for her hand to start shaking uncontrollably when she sees the shadow of a Raptor behind her brother Tim.
Ironically, it’s not Ariana Richards shaking the jello in the original shot. Richards was having a hard time making her shaky hand look natural. Everything she tried looked too forced, and as a result, someone from the Jurrasic Park production team had to crouch beneath the table Lex is sitting at and manually shake her arm for her.
The end result is a shot that stands as one of the most suspenseful parts of the whole movie. Much like an earlier shot, the iconic ripples in the cup of water when a T-Rex stomps around nearby, the jello scene is a perfect example of creating fear by showing the character’s reactions to the “monster” rather than the monster itself. It’s a technique Steven Spielberg perfected on Jaws and used to great effect in Jurassic Park: the less you show, the scarier the threat is.
Despite starring in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time as a child, Ariana Richards has largely given up acting in favor of an art career. In the years since Jurassic Park introduced her to the world, Richards has become a successful artist specializing in landscapes and portraits. Fans can check out her phenomenal paintings at Gallery Ariana.
While the newer Jurassic World series of films has managed to lure most of the original Jurassic Park cast back to dino-land, Lex has been notably absent from the more recent sequels. Thanks to this new TikTok video, however we know it’s not due to any animosity, Richards might feel towards the franchise. Could this mean that Lex could pop up in a future Jurassic outing?
Never say Never, but at the moment, it seems unlikely. For one thing, there has been no mention of a follow-up to Jurassic World: Dominion being in production. On top of that, Richards is content in her life as an artist and doesn’t seem to be itching to get back to Hollywood anytime soon. For now, the green jello TikTok should be taken for what it is, a fun tribute to a classic movie. Happy 30th, Jurassic Park!
