A series of new photos from behind the scenes of Jurassic World: Dominion have been shared online revealing a glimpse of what it’s like filming during a pandemic.
The trio of snaps, shared by the official Jurassic World Instagram account, show the sixth Jurassic film as production resumes at London’s Pinewood Studios. The Colin Trevorrow-directed blockbuster was shut down in March by the coronavirus pandemic.
One picture shows Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady walking into a forest with another character and a sound guy holding his boom mic from a safe (social) distance. The second shows a masked crew member attending to a cage filled with tiny compsognathus dinosaurs, while a third shows how cast and crew are divided into teams on set.
A supporting article on the New York Times explains: “Universal has divided the production into two categories. The larger one is made up of the departments that don’t need access to the set during filming, like construction and props. The more exclusive category, called the Green Zone, includes the director, the cast and only essential crew, like camera operators and the sound department.”
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Dominion is one of a handful of Hollywood blockbusters that have been able to resume production following the global coronavirus pandemic, including Avatar 2 in New Zealand, Uncharted in Germany, and Marvel’s Shang-Chi in Australia. This is thanks to an industry-leading, 107-page safety manual the dictates the working environment ensuring the health and safety of the $200 million film’s 750 cast and crew members.
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – JULY 22: Chris Pratt and Blue the velociraptor interact onstage at the grand opening celebration of ‘Jurassic World -The Ride’ at Universal Studios Hollywood on July 22, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for Universal Studios Hollywood )
The safety measures put in place to allow the production to resume cost Pinewood $9 million. They include a hotel exclusively rented out for the cast, antiviral mists used to clean sets between takes, 150 hand sanitiser stations, and a full time GP with four nurses to administer regular coronavirus tests for the cast and crew.
If the cast had not agreed to be holed up in quarantine ahead of the shoot, the film would have been in trouble admits director Colin Trevorrow.
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“For Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and all our actors, they were very cautious,” Trevorrow said. “But knowing that we would all be safe together is what really moved the needle. If they hadn’t been willing to come, nothing could have happened.”
The article confirms four crew members have tested positive so far. Two who had yet to be on set, who were quarantined for two weeks and allowed to return after three negative tests. Two more were isolated along with everyone who they had been in contact with for two weeks. “No one has become seriously ill,” the studio said.
Cast member Chris Pratt completed three weeks of shooting at Pinewood before returning home to America to be with his wife Katherine for the birth of their first child together, and will return to England at the beginning of September.
Jurassic World: Dominion comes to cinemas June 2021.
