Interest in paleontology waned during the Atomic Age and Space Race, but according to Dr. Nate Smith of the Natural History Museum's Dinosaur Institute, "Jurassic Park coming out generated a bunch of interest amongst young people that wanted to become paleontologists and get into the field." As a result, numerous new dinosaur species have been discovered since then, at roughly the rate of 50 new discoveries per year, or about one per week.
According to the behind-the-scenes book The Making of Jurassic Park: An Adventure 65 million Years in the Making, the infamous roar of The Tyrannosaurus' were a composite mix of a dog, penguin, tiger's snarl, alligators gurgle, and a baby elephants squeal . The very deep alligator vocals acted as the low-frequency element of the final roar. However, as Gary Rydstrom stresses, the key part of the sound is the high-frequency element: the baby elephant. Rydstrom describes how, during the recording session, the baby elephant only did the iconic "cute high-pitched scream" that forms the basis of every T. rex roar in the film once. "We kept trying to get it to do it again, and the handlers were saying, 'We never heard it do that before; that's a weird sound.'" As Rydstrom stresses, the introduction of the T. rex is a scene expressly planned around sound design. "I think maybe other directors would have had a shock moment where you see the T. rex show up out of the blue Spielberg was great in the T. rex scene by getting several minutes of tension because you knew what was coming. And you knew it because you heard it before you saw it it's nice when movies think about sound that way."
The T. Rex occasionally malfunctioned, due to the rain. Producer Kathleen Kennedy recalls, "The T. Rex went into the heebie-jeebies sometimes. Scared the crap out of us. We'd be, like, eating lunch, and all of a sudden a T. Rex would come alive. At first we didn't know what was happening, and then we realized it was the rain. You'd hear people start screaming."
When Hurricane Iniki hit, the cast and crew were all required to move into the ballroom of the hotel in which they were staying. Sir Richard Attenborough, however, stayed in his hotel room and slept through the entire event. When asked how he could possibly have done this, Attenborough replied, "My dear boy, I survived the blitz!"
Director Steven Spielberg wanted the velociraptors to be about ten feet tall, which was taller than they were known to be. According to an artist involved in pre-production, Spielberg requested this change because he was unhappy with the size of what was considered the largest dromaeosaurid at the time, Deinonychus, and wanted it to be bigger. Another reason was to make the raptor more menacing. During filming, paleontologists actually uncovered ten-foot-tall specimens of raptors called Utahraptors. Spielberg also wanted the dinosaurs to be birdlike, for example, snapping to attention like a chicken. He wanted the Raptors to turn their heads so they could look behind them to make them have a scarier appearance. Spielberg likened the Raptor tapping its claw to Morse code to any Raptor listening.
Gerald R. Molen: (at around 50 mins) The producer played Dr. Gerry Harding, the character who was out on the field with the sick triceratops.
Excision: Jeff Abel, better know as Canadian dubstep producer Excision, has a small cameo appearance.
Steven Spielberg: (at around 1 min) as the man with the beard at the beginning of the film watching the female raptor in the pin being unloaded.
Steven Spielberg: [signs] (at around 1h 21 mins) Using a sign with directions or instructions as a joke. In this case, the T. Rex's jaws filling the side-view mirror of the Jeep, with the mirror reading, "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear." This gag has since been spoofed in many other movies, such as Toy Story 2 (1999).
Steven Spielberg: [characters or important events seen through the rear-view mirror of a car] (at around 1h 21 mins) Muldoon watching the T-Rex catch up to the car through the interior mirror.
Steven Spielberg: [dolly zoom] (at around 1h 40 mins) The camera zooms in on Ellie just as she's attacked by a Raptor in the maintenance shed.
Steven Spielberg: [divorce] (at around 4 mins) this stems from Spielberg's own youth and his parents' breakup. Hammond's daughter is getting a divorce.