For a child actor of his age, Ty Simpkins is -- indeed -- a rock star. With his success in not only the Insidious franchise, but also his turn in Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, he’s already built a name for himself as a brainy smart alec, in an industry that loves to unbelievably peg kids as either adorable or wise beyond their years. While he’s definitely played both sides of the spectrum, Simpkins sets himself apart by balancing the two and coming off as a genuine child character in whatever he’s working on, the most recent testiment to this being his role of Gray in Jurassic World.
I recently had the chance to speak to Simpkins as part of the press rounds for Jurassic World, and he’s a live wire. One of the best parts of that conversation -- in between talking about how Chris Pratt is as awesome as Robert Downey Jr. and how he’s got a bit part in Shane Black’s cop comedy The Nice Guys -- is how we turned our attention to what the existence of a real Jurassic World would be like. More specifically, I asked him if he’d ever want to visit a real dinosaur park, knowing what he knows now from the film’s events. Not only is Ty Simpkins ready to go to Jurassic World, should it ever open its doors in reality, but his enthusiasm goes a lot further than that, as he said:
I would work there. I mean, get paid to work with dinosaurs all day. What more could you work for, right?"
While the perils and high adventure of a place like Jurassic World might be something that warns a lot of people away from its existence, Simpkins is ready to dive right in and be a man among the dinosaurs! The enthusiasm of his response is matched only by the areas of expertise he’d take up in his hypothetical career, as he goes on to say:
I would probably work at the T-Rex, and I would probably be a park ranger so I could, you know, go all around the park to visit every dinosaur."
You can tell in his performances that Ty Simpkins really has fun with what he does, but with his attitude on Jurassic World, it looks like he’s ready to bring his work home with him in a new and exciting way! While the park is only a work of fiction, Simpkins has expressed interest in returning to the world of the Jurassic Park franchise if he’s ever asked back. Considering his remarks above, whoever gets to write the script should have the perfect notes on where to go with his character in any future adventures.
Jurassic World shuts down the fences and opens the doors to theaters all over on Friday, and you can see Ty Simpkins next in The Nice Guys - which is set for release on May 20, 2016. Stick around for more Jurassic happenings all week here on CinemaBlend.
