Scarlett Johansson says new Jurassic World film is a ‘love letter’ to Steven Spielberg

Spielberg directed first two films in franchise

Scarlett Johansson has described the forthcoming Jurassic Park film as a “love letter” to Steven Spielberg.

The Black Widow actor stars in Jurassic World Rebirth as Zora Bennett, a former mercenary leading a group of scientists on a hunt for dinosaur blood that could cure heart disease.

Rupert Friend, Jonathan Bailey, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Mahershala Ali, Luna Blaise, and David Iacono also star in the film directed by Gareth Edwards.

At the premiere, held at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London, Johansson talked about the movie and how it could be taken as paying homage to the first two films directed by Spielberg, Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

“So I think it really is a love letter to Steven’s work,” she said. “Fans of the Jurassic universe can expect to really feel the DNA of the original Jurassic Park in this film.”

Jurassic World Rebirth marks the return of David Koepp as writer, rejoining the franchise for the first time since the original 1993 film and its 1997 sequel.

Scarlett Johansson describes forthcoming Jurassic Park film as a ‘love letter’ to Steven Spielberg (Universal Studios)

Confirming her casting in the film, Johansson told ComicBook last year that she was an “enormous” fan of the franchise and excited about Koepp’s script for Rebirth.

“It’s one of the first films I remember seeing in the theatre,” the actor said of the original Jurassic Park movie. “I remember seeing it so vividly. It was life-changing. It was mind-blowing. I cannot express how excited I am. The script is so incredible. David Koepp wrote it. He returned after like 30 years to write the script. He’s so passionate about it, which is so awesome. “I have been trying to get into this franchise in any possible way for over 10 years. I’m like, ‘I’ll die in the first five minutes! I can get eaten by whatever! I’ll do the craft service!’ I’ll do anything for it.”

Earlier this year, Johansson said she was filming reshoots for the Marvel film Black Widow at Pinewood Studio in 2020 while Chris Pratt and Bruce Dallas Howard were on the next-door soundstage filming Jurassic World Dominion.

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“I was like, ‘Show me the sets! I want to participate!’” the actor said, adding she spent years monitoring trade publications for reports of any new Jurassic Park films and flagging news to her agents.

“I was really crazy about the film, and I slept in a Jurassic Park pup tent in my bedroom I shared with my sister for a year,” she said. “Anytime the trades would report a new Jurassic movie, I would forward to my agents like, ‘Hey, I’m available.’”

Johansson also said she spoke to Spielberg about being a “superfan”.

“I hadn’t really sat with him and talked about work, and we spent hours just catching up and chatting. Then, at some point, many hours into it, he was like, ‘Wait, we’re supposed to talk about Jurassic. Do I hear you’re a huge superfan?'” she said.

“I said, ‘It is actually true. I’m confirming. I’m a huge superfan.’”

Jurassic World Rebirth is set to release in theatres on 2 July.