The Jurassic Park franchise has been around for so long that there’s a distinct possibility any relatively fresh-faced newcomers to the cast will have been huge fans of Steven Spielberg’s classic original, which would definitely influence their opinion when a role becomes up for grabs. However, one Jurassic World Dominion star wasn’t all that interested in coming face-to-face with any dinosaurs, which surely defeats the purpose.
Admittedly, the six-film saga has featured plenty of characters that fulfill the ‘guy in the chair’ remit, offering technical support and assistance to the main protagonists as they run for their lives while being pursued by prehistoric beasts desperate to reclaim their place at the top of the foot chain.
As it turns out, though, Dominion‘s Mamoudou Athie wasn’t particularly interested in squaring off against the T-Rex and its legendary lizard cohorts, revealing to ComicBook that he asked co-writer and director Colin Trevorrow to keep him out of the thick of the action.
“I stupidly wanted it that way. When I first met Colin, we talked about it. I was like, ‘I don’t really want to…’ But now after having done it, I was like, ‘That was so fun. What was I thinking?’ But who knows if that had any bearing in the story he was already creating. But yeah, that was certainly a conversation that I had. Really stupid and really embarrassed. Really embarrassed, America.”
Boarding a blockbuster like Jurassic World Dominion and then requesting to actively stay away from the main selling points of the story is an interesting move, but we won’t find out for another few weeks if Athie even survives until the credits come up.
