Thanks to playing a number of iconic roles throughout his career, Samuel L. Jackson will long be remembered for an impressive number of memorable lines. Unquestionably included on this list is his very memorable warning to his co-stars in Jurassic Park, telling them to "Hold on to your butts!" This line in particular apparently left a significant impression on director Jordan Vogt Roberts, because when Jackson was added to the cast of Kong: Skull Island, the filmmaker simply felt compelled to sneak the famous line into the script.
I had the wonderful opportunity to talk extensively about the new King Kong movie with Jordan Vogt Roberts at the Kong: Skull Island press day last month in Los Angeles -- and while most of our conversation centered on big picture stuff, I started by asking about the film's blatant Jurassic Park reference. The director admitted that it most definitely wasn't a coincidence having Samuel L. Jackson reprise the line "Hold on to your butts," but the catch was that he didn't actually expect the actor to go along with it. Vogt Roberts explained,
That was written specifically with him [in mind]. It was one of those things where I, the writer, put it in the script, and I honestly was expecting Sam to say, 'I'm not saying that.' And then the day came on set. He didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. It just came, and it made me really regretful because I really wanted to work in John Goodman saying, 'Mark it zero' or something like that. And I could never find a place that totally made sense, but yeah.
Given that there are many stars who aren't big on referencing their past work in new projects, Jordan Vogt Roberts' timidity here is justifiable -- and it's fun to know that Samuel L. Jackson was game for it (there's simply no way he didn't recognize the dialogue). That being said, approaching John Goodman about the proposed Big Lebowski reference could have been a completely different ballgame, so it's probably for the best that the filmmaker walked away from Kong: Skull Island with a perfect batting average and a fun little reference in his movie.
Because little time is better spent in this life watching clips from Jurassic Park, no matter how short, you can watch Samuel L. Jackson recite his classic line in the video below:
Audiences will catch this Jurassic Park reference in Kong: Skull Island when the film arrives in theaters this Friday, March 10th, but as alluded to earlier, this is far from all I learned from my interview with Jordan Vogt Roberts. CinemaBlend will have a lot more great stories in the next few days about the process of making the blockbuster, so stay tuned!
