Jurassic Park screenwriter reveals origins of Samuel L Jackson's iconic 'Hold onto your butts' line

David Koepp first heard phrase on the set of ‘Death Becomes Her’

Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp has revealed the story behind Samuel L Jackson’s iconic “Hold onto your butts” line.

Speaking to CinemaBlend, Koepp explained that the line came from director Robert Zemeckis when the pair were working together on the 1992 Meryl Streep comedy Death Becomes Her.

“I was finishing Death Becomes Her when I was writing Jurassic Park and we had an ending that was really disastrous at first,” Koepp said.

Explaining that it was the cast and crew's last chance to make the ending work, he added: "As the lights were going down, Bob Zemeckis said, ‘Hold onto your butts.’

"I happened to be working on the [Jurassic Park] script at that time, and I was like, 'Oh, I love that.’”

Koepp continued: “I went back and I typed it into the script immediately, and then Sam Jackson said it. I don't think I ever told Zemeckis that, but that's his line."

Jurassic Park was released in 1993 and quickly went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time after making over $914 million in the global box office, a title it held until the release of James Cameron’s Titanic in 1997.