What it was really like inside the Jurassic World Dominion pandemic bubble
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One thing the Jurassic World Dominion cast could probably count on while living together at a U.K. hotel during filming was an unexpected visit from Laura Dern.
"One morning, slightly bleary-eyed, DeWanda woke up to find me on her couch watching TV," Dern tells EW of her startled costar DeWanda Wise. "She had the news, and I couldn't get the news [in my room] and she could. I was like 'Hey, hey, you want some coffee?'"
Bryce Dallas Howard was also the recipient of a Dern drop-in: The Oscar-winner knocked on Howard's door "asking for conditioner," Dern, who returns to the franchise to play iconic paleobotanist Ellie Sattler, recalls with a laugh.
Such is the life of those filming a blockbuster during the pandemic. Dominion — the sixth installment of the dinosaur action franchise that stars members of the 1993 original (Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum), the sequels (Howard and Chris Pratt), and newcomers (Wise) — was one of the first productions to return to filming after the coronavirus shut down the world in 2020. But Wise, Howard, and Dern all agree that the pandemic bubble forged a rare bond on set.
John Wilson/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and DeWanda Wise in 'Jurassic World Dominion'
"We endured a trauma together and literally helped each other through," says Wise, who plays pilot-for-hire Kayla Watts. "I could not have more supported and listened to and all the things that make you feel safe, seen, and understood.
"We were doing it all, we were cooking together!" she continues. "Bryce can do hair, I can do hair. Bryce is giving haircuts…"
"Howard Haircuts!" interjects Howard, who reprises her role as dinosaur protectionist Claire Dearing. "Bryce the Barber! My confidence is much more significant than my talent."
On a more serious note, Dern recounts an emotional moment on the last day of shooting: "One moment I will never forget as long as I live. We were finishing the final moments of the film, and of the shoot. And suddenly after five months together with 400 of our new friends… because we were outside and it was the last shot, our crew took their masks off for this image of us all working together — and we'd never seen their faces. It just encapsulated this whole time of being this family in this really protected, bizarre, difficult moment. And what an amazing group of people and professionals."
Watch the video above for more from Wise, Howard, and Dern. Jurassic World Dominion is in theaters now.
With reporting from Devan Coggan.
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