Jeff Goldblum Reveals Ian Malcolm Almost Got Cut in Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is one of the most beloved films of all time and the franchise still goes on today with the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion which will feature the return of the original trio from the first film. Dr. Ian Malcolm is considered as one of the fan-favorite characters in the franchise thanks to Jeff Goldblum's iconic portrayal of the role. But as it turns out, he almost wasn't part of the film.

In a GQ video where he broke down the iconic roles of his career, Goldblum shared a story about the time when he met director Steven Spielberg to discuss his role on Jurassic Park in which he revealed that they were considering cutting out Dr. Ian Malcolm and shared how he tried to convince him to keep the character.

He said, "At that first meeting, [Spielberg] said, "Hey, you know, I wanted to meet you. You know, I've enjoyed what you've done. There's a current consensus and a faction, at least, in my group here, that thinks that the script should develop a little, and we may take your character out of it. And put that character that was in the book, Malcolm, and kind of meld it into the Grant character. So, you know, it's kind of one guy." I was, well, "Ooh, really?" [laughs] I've made a little pitch, you know, in my way, all off the top of my head. "I think you might enjoy having that character there, because- or I, you know, I'd be remiss before I left, if I didn't say that, I think, you know, you want somebody to-" whatever I said, you know. Not that that swayed him in any way, but luckily it wound up in the movie."

Dr. Ian Malcolm eventually became one of the characters that fans ended up loving. He was received so well that he ended up being the lead character in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and the character has also become the subject of memes even up to this day. We can very much agree that Jurassic Park wouldn't be the same without him so it's great that they ended up keeping the character.

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After his cameo appearance in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Goldblum will reprise the role again in Jurassic World: Dominion in a more extended role along with his fellow Jurassic Park cast members Sam Neill and Laura Dern. The film is set to be released in theaters on June 10, 2022.