Stuntwork is common in big budget action movies, but sometimes there's no substitute for a real candid shot from an actor or actress during a stunt. Actress Bryce Dallas Howard learned this the hard way on the set of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom when director J.A. Bayona wanted Howard and fellow actor Justice Smith to film a sequence where a gyrosphere rolls off of a cliff. It's a stunt that Bryce Dallas Howard gamely filmed, but not without passing out.
Obviously, cliff diving in a gyrosphere is a little too dangerous to do, so instead a rollercoaster was completed on the lot in order for Bryce Dallas Howard and Justice Smith to get the real feeling of falling to work. Howard recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to explain what happened during the stunt and how she experienced the big freefall. She said:
And J.A. Bayona decided to have a rollercoaster built-- he built a rollercoaster, so that we could experience zero g, zero gravity. So we would actually fall faster than gravity or something. (I'm not sure, I'm not actually a scientist.) And I floated. We did so many takes. But let me just tell you something. I'm so afraid of rollercoasters. Like rollercoasters are the bane of my existence... I was so scared --this is true --I was so afraid that with each take [sic] my panic increased substantially. And by like, the fifth or sixth take, you know there's like so much fear, and Justice told me and I remember it now! I was like [shrieking] and I blacked out!
Speaking to Jimmy Fallon on NBC's late night program, the actress revealed she was terrified to even attempt the rollercoaster stunt, but she did it anyway. However, even though they filmed attempts numerous times, she says the zero gravity stuff never got any easier and in fact caused her to even pass out at one point. She also talked to Fallon about potentially appearing in another J World movie, so if you were a fan of his original gig, that's interesting to boot.
If you've seen the trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (or have caught the movie overseas already), you may have noticed the scene in question. Both Bryce Dallas Howard and Justice Smith look positively terrified while bumping around in the gyrosphere/rollercoaster, and the scene really plays out as if they are terrified, which apparently they were. If you'd like to take a look at what the rollercoaster looked like on the backlot, you can see the full interview, below.
By now, if you've been paying attention to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom at all, you may know that the movie is going to feature Claire Dearing and Owen Grady returning to the island to save some dinosaurs before a major volcano envelops the island. That's only a portion of the movie, however, as some baddie humans will also come in to play. If you live in North America, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will finally be hitting theaters on June 22. If you live elsewhere and already caught the movie in its big international debut, you can also take a look at what other movies are heading into theaters this summer with our full guide.
