Bryce Dallas Howard Promises No High Heels in 'Jurassic World' Sequel
Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire in ‘Jurassic World’ (Universal)
The next time Bryce Dallas Howard is fleeing from genetically modified dinosaurs, she’ll be sure to bring appropriate footwear. In an interview with Cosmopolitan.com, the Jurassic World star discussed the flak she received for tromping around the jungle in high heels — and promised that her character Claire will wear flats in the 2018 sequel.
“When I found out there was going to be a sequel and that I was going to be in it, the way that I found out was that [director Colin Trevorrow] texted me #NoHeels2018,” Howard told the website. “And I was like, ‘Yeah!’ Claire knows to get in there now and her dynamic with the animals has certainly shifted and the woman you see at the end of Jurassic World is very different from the woman see you at the beginning.”
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In Jurassic World, the Jurassic Park franchise reboot that broke box office records this summer, Howard plays the park operations manager who sets about tracking and containing a dangerous escaped dino with the help of raptor trainer Owen (Chris Pratt). Throughout the film’s adventures, Claire stubbornly refuses to remove her impractical stiletto heels, which Trevorrow has said was the actress’s decision. (Howard told reporters she trained “as if I were in the Olympics” to run in Claire’s shoes.) However, that decision didn’t go over well with many audience members, who complained that Claire’s choice of designer shoes over personal safety made her an offensive female stereotype.
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While Howard disagrees with that assessment, she told Cosmo that she’s grateful the conversation took place. “People are seeing that there is a kind of lower tolerance for vapid, meaningless, only functional female characters,” said the actress. “We want the real world and the realities of the real world reflected in movies that we see, and audiences are not tolerating anything other than that.”
She also defended the trajectory of Claire’s character, pointing out that in one final scene, Chris Pratt’s character runs from an attack while Claire stands her ground (heels and all) and saves the day. “That was something that Colin pitched to me before the script was even written. He was like, ‘In the end of the movie, she is the hero,’” Howard explained. “And you know what? She’s in high heels because she’s a woman who has been in high heels her whole life and she can f–king sprint in them. She can. That’s kind of how I perceived it. She doesn’t have to be in menswear and flats in order to outrun a T. rex. That’s what women can do. “
