The Jurassic Park franchise returned with a vengeance in 2015, as the sequel/reboot Jurassic World set numerous box office records (well, before Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke them later that same year) and showed that dinosaurs on the big screen have never gone out of style, as far as the general public is concerned. Universal Pictures is now moving full speed ahead with Jurassic World 2 (official title TBA), with Jurassic World co-writers Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly penning the screenplay for the sequel too.
Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are lined up to reprise their roles as Owen and Claire, respectively, in the followup, though story details beyond that remains under-wraps for the time being. However, while she was in attendance at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival to premiere the short film “Soulmates” that she directed, Howard teased that Claire should be a very different person in the Jurassic World sequel - and not just in terms of her preferred shoes, either.
Howard informed E! Online that Trevorrow and Connolly have revealed a few things about the story for Jurassic World 2 to her, before offering the following answer when asked if Claire’s infamous high-heels would be back:
“… Claire is a different person now. The person she is at the end of the [first] movie is not the person she was in the beginning. Her armor of sorts was that white, pristine outfit with heels in a very corporate environment and stuff, and the chick at the end - totally different. So yeah… it better not be heels.”
While the humans in Jurassic World in general have been widely singled out as being the film’s weakest element, Claire received perhaps the most criticism among the film’s non-dinosaur characters - though as others have pointed out, arguably the real problem is how Jurassic World itself frames the character, who on paper sounds pretty dang cool (read: a woman with an accomplished career who can outrun a Tyrannosaurus Rex while she’s wearing high heels). Indeed, compared to how the character Rey (Daisy Ridley) is treated by the screenplay for The Force Awakens, Claire gets the short end of the stick - and not just from the characters who appear onscreen with her in Jurassic World, either.
Regardless, as noted by Howard, Claire is going to be noticeably different when Jurassic World 2 picks up; not only because of what she went though in the previous installment, but also because Trevorrow and Connolly have no doubt taken at least some of the criticism aimed at Jurassic World to heart while developing the sequel. Iconic characters such as Ellen Ripley and Sarah Conner were famously changed after having taken on such threats as extraterrestrials with acidic blood and cyborgs from the future (in Alien and Terminator, respectively), so there’s already a template for developing female protagonists in sci-fi/action/horror franchises that Jurassic World 2 can follow.
Perhaps Claire will have undergo a similar transformation after her time battling dinosaurs, in Jurassic World 2? It’s plausible, but that will depend in part on who ends up directing the Jurassic World sequel - seeing as Trevorrow won’t be at the helm, since he has committed to directing Star Wars: Episode IX around that time, instead. Fingers crossed, whoever does sign on to direct will show Claire the respect that someone like James Cameron does for the female leads in his own movies.
Jurassic World 2 (official title TBA) is scheduled to reach theaters on June 22nd, 2018.
Source: E! Online
